'It didn't make sense': nurse told police Herron was 'deserted' even after health authority stepped in

The Herron long-term care facility was still "deserted" more than a week after the local health authority claimed that everything was under control, newly released evidence suggests.

Sophie Caron, the head nurse of the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the Lakeshore General Hospital in Montreal's West Island, visited the Herron after the local health agency, the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, claimed everything was being handled.

A June 2020 recording of a police interview with Caron, obtained by Radio-Canada, was evidence at the coroner's inquiry into deaths in seniors' residences during the pandemic's first wave but had not been made public.

"We're ensuring everyone's safety," the head of the CIUSSS, Lynne McVey, texted a provincial government official on March 29.

But when Caron arrived on April 7, she said there were only five employees caring for nearly 150 people, including her own mother. No one from the CIUSSS was present, she said.

A total of 47 people died at the Herron CHSLD during the spring of 2020. A report released that year said the residence was filled with a "nauseating odour of urine and feces" and unwashed dishes. 

"It didn't make sense. Not in Quebec. Not here," an emotional Caron can be heard saying on the police recording.

On April 6, Caron said she received a call for help from Dr. Nadine Larente, a doctor at the CIUSSS.

Larente told Caron the CIUSSS had taken control of Herron but that only those who volunteered were going to the care home, and that barely anyone had stepped forward.

Larente hoped that Caron could go and see for herself what was happening, so she could then convince managers that their staff should go. Caron accepted, as it was one of the only ways she could get into the facility to see her mother.

Caron went to Herron on April 7, after her own shift at the Lakeshore. She said the front desk was unstaffed and it took several minutes to locate anyone who worked there.

Caron said one nurse was going from room to room wearing the same personal protective equipment. Another, who had never worked at Herron before, was distributing medication without knowing who was supposed to receive what.

Caron said she was "scared" of what she would find walking through the long-term care facility. She saw at least one resident who was severely dehydrated and another who was hooked up to an empty oxygen tank.

As she tried to help a dying patient, Caron said she called the doctor who was supposed to be following the seniors at the facility. The doctor didn't know what to do either and agreed to prescribe whatever she asked for.