the investigation into the dorval long-term care home where 47 residents died at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic resumed monday, a month after it was scheduled to conclude.
coroner géhane kamel, who is presiding over the larger inquest into resident deaths in long-term care homes, extended the hearings for chsld herron in september after conflicting testimony failed to provide clarity on the events at the home in the spring of 2020. while some witnesses described residents who were malnourished, dehydrated and sitting in their own excrement , others testified they were unaware the situation had deteriorated to that extent .
the main witness on monday was brigitte auger, the appointed manager at herron from the ciusss de l’ouest-de-l’île-de-montréal who first testified in september. auger was called back for clarification on multiple points, notably the health authority’s role once it arrived on-site after most staff left and its communication with herron management.
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“if we’re collaborating, then we should have, i think, involved the owner,” said kamel, who previously described management as a “ping-pong match” between herron and the health authority at the start of the pandemic.
she was also asked why it took until april 5 for the health authority to request that additional nurses and orderlies be sent in, considering the head of the human resources department testified deaths could have been avoided if he’d been contacted sooner. auger responded that human resources was aware of the situation at herron and that there was a lack of personnel across the network.
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