HOLYOKE, MASS. (WHDH) - The daughter of a veteran who fell victim to the tragic coronavirus outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home said she was “horrified” to learn of the many “substantial failures” made by administrators that resulted in the deaths of dozens of residents.
“I think it was a death sentence,” Laurie Mandeville Beaudette told 7NEWS. “I’m horrified because I saw the fear in my dad’s eyes every night.”
Beaudette’s father was one of 76 veterans who passed away when the coronavirus spread like wildfire through a locked unit at the facility in late March.
“Why do our parents have to die needlessly? It’s just not fair,” she said.
The Baker-Polito Administration on Wednesday released the results of an independent report ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker into the COVID-19 outbreak at the Home, where at least 76 coronavirus-related deaths occurred after administrators made a series of “terrible errors.”
The 174-page report detailing the investigation and its findings, which Baker called “nothing short of gut-wrenching” and “hard to read,” can be viewed here.
Beaudette said it was “agonizing” to watch her father slowly die over a series of video calls that she had with him.
“I was taking screenshots of my dad when we were Facetiming and it was just horrible,” she explained. “I dread going to sleep at night because all the images come to my head.”
Beaudette said she is saddened and maddened by the ordeal as she continues to mourn the loss of her father, who lived at the home for 16 years.
“He was scared but I was more scared,” Beaudette said. “I knew what the virus was capable of and he didn’t.”
Beaudette called the negligent actions taken by leaders at the Home “criminal.”
“I do believe it was criminal,” she said. “I really do and it makes me very sad. I hope and pray that justice will be served for the veterans who have passed, my dad included.”
Beaudette said she won’t rest easy until those responsible for all the unnecessary death face charges.
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