A beneficiary of an interim resource for people with loss of autonomy in Trois-Rivières, covered with a dozen wounds, has been battling bed bugs for two months, but nothing is changing, her daughter lamented on Friday.
“She has wounds that have started to become infected. This is unacceptable. I don’t understand, I really don’t understand how it’s taking so long,” said France Lefebvre, worried about her mother’s condition.
On Saturday, the woman took numerous photos of her mother, who lives in the Pavillon des Aînés in Sainte-Marthe-du-Cap, showing the eldest with bite marks on her arms, back and very close to her face.
According to her daughter, the beneficiary never received any medication or treatment for her wounds.
However, when Ms Lefebvre and her brothers tried to denounce the situation, they found several voicemail boxes, she lamented. And even via email, communication wouldn’t be easy, while some pass the buck and others don’t even bother to reply.
- Listen to the news briefs with Julien Bouthillier broadcast live on QUB radio :
The process is frustrating for the family trying to get answers and be informed of the action plan for next steps.
“They don’t do anything. They always say you’re not in the right place, go somewhere else,” the woman sighed.
Senior Pavilion management declined to allow TVA Nouvelles an on-camera interview, but nonetheless provided some information on the situation.
She assures that exterminators from Abat Extermination have come twice since February to exterminate bed bugs. Management says few have been sighted recently and the issue is close to resolution.
Rooms other than Ms Lefebvre’s mother’s have also recently been infested with bed bugs.
For its part, the CIUSSS de la Mauricie – Centre-du-Québec is also aware of the situation and guarantees that all measures will be taken to solve the problem.
His duty in such a case is to accompany the apartment, if necessary, and to inform the staff who will work there of the current situation.
Despite these comments, France Lefebvre says she has lost confidence in the residence and its managers.
According to experts, in the event of an infestation, it is essential to react very quickly because the spread is quick and easy.
“The work on site is not very complicated. Sweeper, steamer, and we no longer work with a pesticide, we even work with a so-called fungus. […] Usually a month and a half depending on the infestation, but it has to be a major in Tabarouette for it to last longer,” explained Gestion Paratsitaire du Québec CEO Stéphan Sicotte.
In an email sent to the family on Thursday, a nurse said she examined the resident’s body and told her family that the wounds on her arms had fully healed and that there were no more wounds on her back, abdomen and lower limbs.
A claim that Ms. Lefebvre strongly doubts, who only on Saturday could count dozens and dozens of bites all over her mother’s body that seemed far from healed.
The nurse added in her message that Ms Lefebvre’s mother finally got an appointment with the dermatologist for April 24.
Although her mother is being cared for, she only wants one thing: to get out of the facility.
“This lady is turning 90 and I think she deserves to be happy until her last breath,” she concluded.