Grieving families, surviving residents of Maimonides Geriatric Centre want their belongings back

It was around dinnertime one evening in late May when Beverly Spanier was given less than an hour to pack all of her belongings into a small box and vacate a room she had been living in for four years.

Maimonides Geriatric Centre had decided to shift residents around the institutionin Cte Saint-Luc to keep COVID-19 patients separated from people who weren't infected. They had to move quickly and disinfect rooms on the fly.

Being paralyzed and only having so much space in the box, Spanier, 74, asked an attendantto grab her medical supplies and a bag she always keeps ready for emergency trips to the hospital.

"I didn't have enough time to think it through," she said.

Her refrigerator and microwave were taken away, her bed was moved, and all her other possessions were carted off. There was no inventory taken, she said, and now she doesn't know where her belongings have beenstored.

Spanier has had nothing to wear but a hospital gown ever since.

Spanier said she was told to change into thegown instead of her regular clothing, as part of the measures to stem the spread ofthe novel coronavirus.

She said many residents dowear nightgowns regularly,but she prefers to get dressed daily.

"I feel violated," she said. "I feel terrible, and I feel wrong."

Maimonidesunprepared, says grieving daughter

Other residents and their families are also having similar trouble tracking down their possessions, from artwork to family photos to clothing.

One of them is Marla Schwartz Spergel, whose late father,Harry Schwartz, died of COVID-19 on May 15.

"I understand he was 89 with these ailments, but I certainly wasn't ready to let him go," said Spergel, who lives in Toronto. "I really miss him."

Though he had Alzheimer's, Spergel said, her father recognized her when they video-chatted two days before his death.

Grieving, Spergel forgot to ask for her father's belongings when she learned of his death, and the home has yet to contact her about picking his things up, she said.

Either way, she said the geriatric centre should have been better prepared to handle the crisis. More than 30 people have died of COVID-19 there since the start of the pandemic.

"There was no testing of staff before they came in," Spergel said, and early in the crisis, those staff lacked personal protective equipment. "I'm very angry because I expected quality."

She's looking into the possibility of filing a class-action lawsuit against Maimonides.

• Quebec coroner's office orders public inquiry into COVID-19 deaths in long-term care homes

CIUSSS says situation under control

A spokesperson for the regional health agency that oversees Maimonides, CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'le-de-Montral, said the geriatric centre was not designed to be run like a hospital, and management needed to act fast once there was an outbreak.

A professional moving company was hired to pack belongings on three floors, to create a "hot zone" where infected residents could stay, Lauren Schwartz said.

"The good news is that we have succeeded in flattening the curve of new infections," said Schwartz. "The measures we introduced are having an impact."

However, it is premature to predict when residents will be returning to their pre-COVID-19 rooms, she said.

"The belongings were packed and stored by professionals, and we have no indication of belongings being lost," she said. Families are being asked not to pick them up for now.