Ana María C., director of the Domus Vi residence in Alcoi during the health crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, testified this Wednesday as a witness before the court of first instance and instruction number 3 of Alcoi during the first trial in Spain by civil means. proceedings against the company managing a retirement home. The woman assured that there was no shortage of staff at the public private residence, even though the Department of Equality and Inclusive Policies imposed a very heavy fine of 40,000 euros on the center for lack of staff in a case initiated there a few months. Before. of the pandemic. The sanction, as reported by this newspaper, criticized the residence for not having the “staff established by the regulations governing each service, both in terms of dedication and professional qualification required and necessary for the exercise of their functions”.
The regional management, which noted “risks and dangers for users”, confirmed the absence of a doctor and a socio-cultural animation technician, as recalled by the witness, who assured that the doctor hired after the check “was only there a very short time”. and then he was already there. » The witness does not remember if the doctor was replaced.
Already in the midst of the pandemic, a doctor was hired “to expand the team” and the Ministry of Health, after taking control of the residence on March 18, 2020, sent a second doctor as reinforcement.
The witness recognized that the residence doctor, Hernán S., was also on duty at the Virgen de los Lirios Hospital. “He had his day from Monday to Friday and spent the hours he needed at the center. Her schedule was flexible because she had to go to the hospital,” explained the former director of the residence.
Ana María C. also reported that two years before the pandemic there were two outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the residence. He also confirmed that in 2019 several relatives of residents signed a letter with their “feeling that staffing was insufficient”.
On the night of March 13, 2020, the day before the state of alert was declared, a first resident tested positive for Covid in the hospital where he had been transferred. “Our priority was to prevent viruses from entering the center,” explained the former director. As in almost the entire country, masks were insufficient. From March 14, the residence began to take measures with the few resources it had. Two days later, the first resident infected with Covid died.
The director of the residence refuted the description of Doctor Manuel Pérez, head of the home hospitalization unit at the Virgen de los Lirios Hospital, of the “chaos” and “hecatomb” he claimed to have witnessed in the Domus Vi residence. The witness assured that the doctor’s words did not correspond to reality.
“Infections were 15 out of 15”
After the first confirmed positive result, the residence separated users with symptoms from those who were asymptomatic. However, after a test of all residents, carried out “much later”, they realized that there were asymptomatic Covid positives, so the first sectorization was in vain.
The former Domus Vi employee highlighted the virulence of the virus due to the “very strong” viral load. “Infections were 15 out of 15,” he said.
After the Ministry of Health took over the residence “to reorganize everything to contain the virus”, the company was forced to double its workforce, putting all employees to work full time.
However, the hospital with which those responsible for the residence coordinated was only able to provide a few gowns and masks, at a very critical moment when professionals from health centers throughout Spain were making personal protective equipment with plastic bags.
Concerning the application of the protocols, the witness declared: “As of March 14, everything that reached us [de Sanidad] “We applied it as early as possible, it was as immediate as possible.” “It was daily, procedures changed from one day to the next,” he added.
The Cocentaina residence, also in Domus Vi, had the same protocols, as the former director admitted. However, half of the users died at the Alcoi residence (74 deaths).
