One year later: remembering the victims of COVID-19 in Quebec

By Alyssia Rubertucci and Kelsey Patterson

MONTREAL (CityNews) – As Quebec commemorates victims of COVID-19 exactly one year into the pandemic, families across the province are remembering their loved ones.

Ken Wheeland was one of the more than 10,000 people in Quebec whose lives were cut short due to COVID-19.
His son Peter Wheeland is hoping important lessons can be learned.

“The 10,000 people who died, so many of them died without dignity, cut off from their loved ones,” said Peter, who lost both his parents during the pandemic. “And that’s a horrible death. It was a horrible death repeated thousands of times across Canada.

“We’re supposed to be celebrating the life of these 10,000 Quebecers who died. I think we would be doing them a disservice not to just look back at their lives, but look forward at what their lives could have been if we had a better approach of taking care of elders.”

Ken Wheeland. (Credit: Peter Wheeland/HO)

Ken was 85 years old and lived at the Herron long-term care facility in Dorval, Que., with his wife Connie. Ken was then moved to a residence in Lasalle, Que., just as the pandemic hit and seniors’ homes shut their doors to the public.

“He didn’t know why he was in a new facility,” said Peter. “He didn’t know why his family wasn’t visiting him. And that happened to a lot of people. Especially anyone who has any level of dementia, they’re wondering why their family has suddenly disappeared on them.”

At his new residence, Ken didn’t have a phone in his room, which cut communication between him and his family for two weeks.

“We were fighting to get him a cell phone so we would be able to talk to him,” recounted Peter. “So he would know we hadn’t deserted him. By the time we finally got arrangements, we were told he was having problems breathing. When he went into palliative care, we got to spend some time with him.”

WATCH: Families of Herron residents demand answers (Feb. 12, 2021)

Ken died shortly after – on Apr. 4 – and he was confirmed COVID positive. Just days later, his wife Connie tested positive at Herron – one of the hardest hit facilities in Quebec. She had mild symptoms.

“What I was worried about is they were keeping these COVID positive patients in CHSLDs like they were hospitals. They are not hospitals. They don’t have the testing resources. They don’t have the staffing resources. These are not hospitals.

“Sick people should not be kept in long-term care homes. That was the main reason we fought to get her out.”

Ken and Connie Wheeland. (Credit: Peter Wheeland/HO)

 

Connie’s family cared for her until placing her in a new facility in Ottawa. She died at the end of December at age 88 from non-COVID reasons.

But the pandemic ultimately took a toll on her. She lived through the horrors at Herron, where at least 38 residents died during the first wave. There, many residents like Connie were left sitting in their own excrement for days. Several were without food and water.

Herron and other seniors’ homes in the province are now facing a Quebec coroner’s inquest and more investigations.

READ MORE: Quebec coroner postpones hearings into deaths at Herron nursing home to September

Peter says he wants real change to come out of them.

“If we have 10 more studies and nothing is ever done, then we’re back at square one,” he said. “I really really hope these 10,000 deaths, what we take from that is a real commitment to improve the situation for elders in society going forward.”

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