By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HAGERSVILLE—Anson Place Care Centre is one of six long-term care facilities listed in a new $15 million class action lawsuit being put together by Toronto-based law firm TYR LLP.
All six facilities are owned and operated by Responsive Group Inc., a privately held group of businesses that provide a suite of services to varying facilities. The six facilities in question have seen 71 deaths due to COVID-19, with 27 of those occurring at Anson Place.
The statement of claim provided by TYR LLP alleges that Anson Place, along with the five other homes, “breached their duties of care to the plaintiff and class by failing, in the homes that they own, operate, and manage, to properly plan for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, by failing to ensure adequate staffing within the homes to care for the elderly residents, and by failing to comply with public health guidance, directives, and other requirements issued by the Provincial and Federal government.”
Those directives include adequate infection outbreak planning, supply and access to personal protective equipment (PPE), resident isolation and testing, and employee testing and screening.
Two months ago, Norfolk County resident Mike McCarroll would have laughed if you told him he would be listed as the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit. However, that was before his mother, Ruby McCarroll, became one of the first residents at Anson Place to lose their life to the virus.
“In late February she started having some health issues, so she went to the hospital for a few days and bounced there and back,” said McCarroll. On March 14, Anson Place began their lockdown procedures, and McCarroll was no longer able to visit. On March 23, Ruby was admitted to the hospital again and McCarroll contacted Anson Place for information. “They were saying she was having little falls here or there, losing her balance. The day she went in she had a fever. Just confusion.”
Four days later McCarroll received a call from the hospital letting him know that his mother had fallen gravely ill and that this would be his final opportunity to see her. Wearing PPE, McCarroll was allowed to say goodbye: “When I left, they told me they had just gotten her test result back and she had tested positive for COVID-19. I was surprised and I could tell the nursing staff at the hospital were surprised too.”
McCarroll’s mother died three days later from COVID-19 related complications.
“With my mom’s passing, it (COVID-19) became my focus,” said McCarroll. “The first week in April I thought ‘there’s a problem there’ (at Anson Place). The second week I thought ‘this is a big problem’.”
McCarroll began speaking with other families with similar experiences at the home: “We each have our own individual situation to handle and then there’s this shared outpouring, talking to other families and getting their stories…. As family members get older you know the day is coming, but you don’t think that this is going to be attached to it.”
Out of those stories, McCarroll began to ask questions about how Anson Place had handled the outbreak, and those questions led him towards TYR LLP.
“I certainly wasn’t looking to be involved in something like this, but I became the spokesperson for it,” said McCarroll. “We found each other, talked a few times, TYR LLP gave their perspective on it, and it’s something that seemed to me to be the right thing to do.”
It wasn’t long before McCarroll was being interviewed. “To see my mom’s picture on national TV, newspapers, and the internet, surreal is a word I use a lot,” said McCarroll. “It’s a story that has hit our local community and hit it in a very emotional way.”
Despite his desire for answers, McCarroll was quick to praise the staff at Anson Place: “I think the staff there are heroes. They do great work, and they’re in harms way too. A lot of them have tested positive.”
“We’re trying to honour the lives of the people we’ve lost by creating a legacy for the future,” said McCarroll, who would like to see more thorough preparation and a public statement. “There needs to be an accountability and they need to make a public declaration of how they are going to do better.”
Responsive Group Inc. issued a media release regarding the lawsuit. It states that they “recognize the rights of individuals to advance their concerns through litigation. It is equally important that all parties in such matters have the opportunity to present information to the court and for it to be reviewed and thoughtfully considered. The court will then have to determine whether a concern merits certification. In due course, we will identify legal counsel, review the information provided, and prepare our responses.”
Lisa Roth, Executive Director for Anson Place, stated, “We took proactive measures before we were notified of the first positive COVID-19 test result. Prior to the outbreak, a Senior Public Health Nurse trained all employees on the use of PPE. We worked to ensure we had sufficient materials and PPE to meet the safety and protection standards, and the directives laid out by public health.”
Roth laid out how Anson Place followed all directives and protocols supplied by public health, the Ministry of Health, and leading medical experts as the COVID-19 outbreak evolved in Ontario. She stated that those protocols and directives have been regularly updated as experts improve their understanding of the necessary measures needed to control the spread of the virus. She also mentioned the close relationship between Anson Place and the local health unit, calling it “a partnership we rely on.”
“It is an especially difficult time for families who have loved ones in long-term care homes. We’ve maintained ongoing conversations with our families to keep them informed as we understand the trust that family members and the community places in us when we care for their loved one,” summarized Roth. “We take that responsibility seriously. The loss of each resident has left a lasting mark on all of us, and on behalf of the Anson Place family, I would like to provide our deepest condolences to the families who have lost a loved one.”
A closer look at the first legal injunction against Anson Place
By Haldimand Press Staff
The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) made similar claims against Responsive Group in court on April 22, 2020 in an application for urgent orders to address “serious health and safety problems” at four homes in the province, three of which belong to Responsive Group. The judge in this case, EM Morgan, sided with the ONA that nurses should not be impeded in determining what PPE is required.
In his decision, Morgan included deposition from Nancy Oliviera, a nurse at Anson Place. According to Oliviera, nurses were initially advised that N95 masks were unnecessary and were asked to remove them and wear less protective surgical masks on multiple occasions. Oliviera claims the N95 mask supply was locked up in the Director’s office with a small supply available only for swabbing suspected COVID-19 patients, which often had an “insufficient supply” because the Director “was prone to neglect replenishing for night staff … (and) no thought seems to have been given to the times that the Director, who is an administrator rather than medical staff, is not available”, read the decision.
The decision also noted Susan Clarke, another nurse, who told the court that Anson Place’s “ward rooms”, which are shared by four residents, have beds closer than “the required 2 metres” and “are separated merely by a curtain”. Oliviera noted the residents diagnosed with COVID-19 had “not been moved from these shared rooms.”
Carolyn Pepper, a third nurse, said that while some PPE was provided when the first case was confirmed in the retirement residence, that same day the outbreak was declared in the LTC facility and, “According to Ms. Pepper, the management at Anson Place did not put into effect its existing Pandemic Plan. Therefore, residents and staff were not separated, or cohorted, into contagious and non-contagious groupings.”
Clarke noted that staff move between floors at Anson Place, increasing possible transmission between retirement home residents and the more vulnerable long-term care residents or vice versa. Additionally, “the affidavit evidence indicates that residents from the first and second floors have been permitted to continue intermingling freely in the building’s common lobby,” said Morgan in his decision.
The Chief Medical Officer of Health’s third directive requires resident and staff cohorting and providing a 2 metre physical distancing allowance. That directive admits this is not always possible in smaller homes, and in these cases the home should act as if everyone is infected. The judge noted the directive requires that in these cases “a full PPE compliment, including N95 masks, must be provided to nursing staff.”
“It (Anson Place) takes the position that, as set out in Directive #3, it is operating on the assumption that all residents have COVID-19,” stated Morgan. “According to Anson Place, this does not mean that they must be vigilant about making PPE available, but it does mean that no effective separation need even being attempted between the sick and the well.”
