Son of Camilla Care Community resident says he couldn't reach staff in days leading up to mom's death

A few weeks ago, Alan Guy thought he and his family were among the lucky ones. 

While COVID-19 had spread to many units in the Mississauga long-term care home where his mother resides, the novel coronavirus hadn't yet found its way to her floor. 

But soon their luck changed. On April 28, Mary Guy, his 83-year-old mother, tested positive for COVID-19. She died on May 4. 

"It's almost like it's not real," Guy told CBC Toronto over the weekend.

"I never got a chance to see my mom, I never got to talk to my mom," he said. 

His mother is one of 50 residents who have died of the virus at Camilla Care Community in a matter of weeks.

As he struggles to come to terms with her death, Guy said he's also battling feelings of frustration over what he's calling a lack of communication from the home's staff. 

"A lot of families going through this," he said. "At least let people know what's going on ... Not knowing is the worst part." 

Guy said he was initially receiving regular updates from staff, but eventually the calls stopped.

When his mom's health took a turn for the worse, Guy said, she was shuffled several times between the emergency room of a local hospital and various floors of the long-term care home.

"We didn't really know what was happening and we couldn't reach anyone," he said.

Guy says he and his wife placed countless unanswered calls to the home in an attempt to reach her, but she died before they got the chance to say goodbye. 

To this day, he says the only call he received from Camilla Care Community staff came the day following his mom's death, when they asked him to make arrangements to pick up her belongings. 

In a statement to CBC Toronto, the company that operates the facility said it's focused on caring for residents and that its staff has been staying in touch with families. 

"Our focus is on caring, serving and protecting residents, as well as communicating with families during this very stressful time. I can confirm that Camilla Care Community has the adequate staffing during this outbreak," said Natalie Gokchenian, communications director for Sienna Senior Living.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the families for their loss. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones at this time." 

Memorial on lawn of Camilla Care 

Guy hasn't been able to see his mother's body since her death due to the risk factor of COVID-19.

His family has a plot waiting for his mom beside her husband's grave in Corner Brook, N.L., where the family is from originally. But because of the pandemic, no one knows when they will be able to make the trip to hold a service and bury her. 

In search of a visual representation to mourn the loss of their loved one, Guy and his granddaughter, Rylee Guy-Ryosa, joined a Facebook group of family members who had the idea to create a kind of memorial on the lawn outside the long-term care home.

Now, when people drive by Camilla Care Community, they will see neat rows of crosses, 50 in total, each bearing the name of a deceased resident. 

While the crosses offer some reprieve, Guy-Ryosa says it's painful knowing she couldn't speak to her great-grandmother in the days before her death. 

"It was hard because I never got to say goodbye to her," Guy-Ryosa said. 

Camilla Care Community reported the 50 deaths on Saturday — a jarring increase from the 21 fatalities reported on Tuesday. 

The home can accommodate around 230 people. A total of 166 residents have tested positive for the virus at the Mississauga long-term care home, 62 of which are still considered "active," according to Peel Public Health. 

The Ministry of Long-Term Care has reported more than 1,200 deaths related to the virus in care homes across Ontario, although certain facilities, such as Camilla Care Community, have taken the brunt of the impact. 

Unanswered calls, emails 

Those numbers are what worry Innis Ingram, whose 76-year-old mom Catherine Robertson is living in Camilla Care Community. 

Fortunately, Robertson has tested negative to the virus, but the rooms on either side of her have confirmed cases. 

She also suffers from a terminal lung disease, making her fall under the "highest risk category there is for this disease," Ingram said. 

"She's terrified." 

Because Robertson has "full command of all her mental faculties," Ingram says she can operate her phone, allowing them to talk freely and regularly. 

But he said he has placed several calls and emails to the home throughout the pandemic, requesting more information, but none have been returned. 

Camilla Care one of 1st homes to receive testing 

Lawrence Loh, the interim medical officer of health at Peel Region, says the home has been on their "radar" since it first experienced the outbreak in early April. 

"Certainly, my heart goes out to everyone that has been impacted by the ongoing events at Camilla Care," Loh told CBC Toronto Sunday. 

"It is one of the first homes that we did broad testing in, contact tracing, isolations, and then also having a number of response teams going in to provide infection, prevention and control support."

Loh added that managing the outbreak has been a coordinated effort between the hospital, public health, and long-term care administrators.

"Certainly no one has wanted to see the results that have been there, but I can tell you that there has been a lot of work that has gone into trying to get the outbreak in that home under control," he said.