Health officials, Herron staff clashed as situation got worse, Quebec coroner hears
CBC
There was tension over who was in charge at the privately owned Residence Herron care home as a COVID-19 outbreak worsened last year, with residents and their families left on the sidelines, a Quebec coroner's inquest heard Thursday.
Coroner Géhane Kamel heard from Herron staffers that managers from the regional health authority and the residence weren't on the same page as they tried to address staffing issues, building access and a lack of equipment.
Kamel said the testimony was creating the impression "that Herron people stayed in their offices, that the (regional health authority) remained in their offices and that in the middle of all that, while there are small procedural tussles, that there are people who are dying.''
Regional health officials arrived at Herron on March 29, 2020, after requests for help and equipment, but the question of who was in charge over the next two weeks has remained up in the air.
Tina Pettinicchi, who was responsible for sales at Herron before the pandemic hit, ended up helping management wherever she could as the situation became dire.
The first confirmed COVID-19 case in the home was on March 27. Front-line staff quickly began to fall ill, and replacement staff were hard to find because of pressure across the network.
Some Herron workers confided to Pettinicchi that they were afraid, and many had been told to quarantine for 14 days. One of the health authority officials who came to help on March 29, Dr. Nadine Larente, was asked to speak to kitchen staff who were afraid to distribute food trays to patients.