$41,000 stolen by staff from residents with autism and intellectual disabilities

Staff at Residence Louis-Vachon, a center specializing in intellectual disabilities and pervasive developmental disorders, reveals an internal investigation at Laval’s Center for Integrative Health and Services (CISSS). .

Radio-Canada For the year from April 2022 to March 2023, staff at Residence Louis-Vachon paid about $41,000 directly from residents’ accounts, without invoices or other documentation.

In principle, under certain conditions, employees can access user accounts for ongoing expenses.

We noted withdrawals from about twenty residents’ trust accounts without proof of purchase.A spokesperson for CISSS From Laval, Marie-Eve Despati-Gacnon.

A spokesperson notes that all users will be refunded in full.

None of the staff involved are now employed by CISSS de Laval […] And we assess whether legal action will be taken against the individuals involved.

Let’s say there are irregularities, and every time we lift a rock we find somethingThe head of the users group mentions CISSS From Laval, Pierre Lynch.

From the point of view of users and families, I think it is wise to issue refunds now to preserve the authenticity of the changes made.

The manager has our full confidence and is implementing the recommendations presented by the consultants this summerPierre Lynch underlines.

Abuse and neglect

Last August, another report cited “abuse and neglect” at Residence Louis-Vachon.

Consultants hired by CISSS Laval drew up a series of 150 recommendations to eliminate abuse and neglect of the center’s residents.

A finding of actual abuse/neglect has been made […] Injuries, especially those that occur during physical interventions, are often inexplicable, often without respect for established protocolsThey wrote in a statement released by Radio-Canada in August.

Confronted with a new report of financial malfeasance, lawyer Patrick Martin-Menard is stunned to see another wave of irregularities hit the establishment.

Four years later, we are seeing situations of systemic mistreatment, but in addition, we are now talking about financial abuse., says the lawyer. The latter directs a request for collective action against CISSS Laval for alleged activities at the Louis-Vachon residence from 2012 to 2019.

Christine Morin, a full professor at Laval University’s Faculty of Law, said it is difficult to explain how such a situation arose on a public network.

How can employees recover this money (powers of attorney, forged checks, etc.)? How did they manage to withdraw so much money before someone intervened?

According to her, It is obvious that communities need to be more proactive in preventing and quickly intervening in such situations.

Ms. Morin is a member of the Public du Québec’s Committee on Protection and Representation of Disabled or Protected Persons, appointed by the Minister of Families, and of the Advisory Committee on Material and Financial Abuse of the Elderly. Set up by Senior Secretariat.

at CISSS From Laval, it is estimated to have been Active And mention that we are working to establish training for staff on managing hosted users’ property.

As the new Deputy Director of Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders, Yann Desbiens explained in August, Residence Louise-Vachon has kind people working there […] We need to train better, and for that, we’ll hire people very quickly to support people during their shifts..

Residence Louise-Vachon has the capacity to accommodate 42 people, including 16 with severe conduct disorder (SBD) and 26 with multiple disabilities requiring healthcare.