Quebec reveals changes made to long-term care homes ahead of second wave

Report shows shortfalls in 2 long-term care homes Reports on two long-term care homes show there were serious shortfalls during the first wave of COVID-19.

MONTREAL — As Quebec braces for the second wave of COVID-19, officials are outlining what measures have been put in place to ensure the province’s long-term care homes aren’t ravaged the way they were during the first.

Reports published on Wednesday following investigations into long-term care homes (CHSLDs) Herron in Montreal and Sainte-Dorothee in Laval revealed several issues that existed within the health-care system before the pandemic hit, the government said. At Herron, where 43 residents died, officials claim the problem was a “delay in intervention” – at Sainte-Dorothee, where more than 100 residents died, it was “technical issues and a lack of personnel.”

“The pandemic has brought to light already existing gaps in the network," Health Minister Dube said in a release on Wednesday. "The government responded quickly to the findings presented in these reports. Not only did the major changes undertaken serve to prepare us for the second wave, our actions are sustainable and their benefits will continue after the pandemic. "

The announcement on Wednesday by Dube and Seniors' Minister Marguerite Blais states that the government has implemented (or is in the process of implementing) the following changes in the province’s long-term care homes:

“It is clear to us that the pandemic alone does not justify what happened," Blais said. "We learned from the first wave to make sure we never relive human dramas like the ones we experienced last spring."