[Reporter: David Common] The dozens of dead at Orchard Villa can no longer be saved.
But there remain questions about whether they might have lived.
Using exclusive hidden camera
a whistleblower on the ground and the government's own inspections
we can show the home was in danger long before the virus hit.
It would take hours for that place to become a disaster zone.
Cathy Parkes is now trying to piece together the final days of her father's life .
Like other homes, Orchard Villa closed its doors to outsiders in March.
So Cathy's only connection to her dad Paul was through a phone in his room>
I said hi dad you know it's me I could tell something was very wrong.
[Reporter] His weak voice suggested COVID was now inside.
I spent the entire day trying to call staff.
I couldn't get anyone.
[Reporter] It took hours of calling to reach an employee inside.
I said how are things with you and he said it's not good.
There's no staff.
He said we don't have any PPE.
He sounded exhausted.
And I said what can I do?
And he said I don't know.
[Reporter] Cathy sounds the alarm in writing to the premier and health minister.
Repeating to the mayor, Orchard Villa needs support staff and PPE
and they need these things immediately.
From the mayor's office reports Orchard Villa, says it doesn't need the help.
Telling Cathy the home says it got more staff in and has enough PPE at this time.
Even now the home says it accepted offers of assistance early and often
and say they were never short of PPE.
Contrary to claims made by staff inside.
Back then Cathy wasn't convinced.
Gets a staffer to bring her dad to the window.
I knew as soon as I saw him, dad's not OK.
He's really really not OK.
Cathy wants him rescued.
She calls the hospital with a question.
If this is the state that he's in will you take him?
Yes, we will.
OK, thank you so muc.
Then I called and I got the assistant director of care at Orchard Villa
and I said what's going on with my dad.
Your dad's fine.
As a matter of fact he sat up and ate 75 percent of his lunch today.
And I thought, that's not possible.
I was there at 12:05 at lunch time .
He was comatose.
So I said I'd like to send him to the hospital.
No you don't want to do that.
You can't do that.
And I said yes I can, I just called the hospital
they said they'll take him no.
No they won't they're lying to you.
[Reporter] That sounded odd to us and so we called the hospital ourselves.
Lakeridge Health tells us they have always been willing to accept patients
including those from long-term care homes.
But two months ago Cathy wasn't sure who was right.
She decides within hours to call for an ambulance.
Before she does the home calls her.
And said Paul Parkes has died.
When are you coming to get his body?
And when will you be collecting his things?
Have you ever seen anything as bad as that in your life?
No, honestly, no.
This health care worker on the inside tells us staff shortages had overwhelmed the home.
He fears repercussions for speaking out if he's identified.
Were residents being fed?
No.
Really?
I would start my shift in the evening shift from 3:00 to 11:00
and I found the breakfast and lunch trays sitting in from the patients.
Orchard Villa has a long and troubled history.
Two years ago, an undercover CBC journalist was able to walk the hallway for 30 minutes
before staff told her of an infectious outbreak.
[Reporter] But she was given a tour anyway.
And there were many problems at provincial officials knew all about.
In 2017, government inspectors found Orchard Villa consistently short-staffed.
Ordering the home to fix the problem.
But a year later found that same problem.
14 identified dates where there were no RN's on site.
With a history of short staffing and repeat violations and perhaps no surprise
Orchard Villa was overwhelmed by COVID.
By the time the military arrived in late April
nearly 50 residents were already dead.
Soldiers found caregiver burnout, patients sleeping on bare mattresses.
In appropriate PPE-use, poor infection prevention
and control staff putting food outside residents reach.
And this whistleblower tells us it was much worse before the military arrived.
I think the owners finally realized that somebody's watching them
and they had to pull up their socks.
He says management didn't call for outside help soon enough.
The people that were really sick were just dehydrated.
It was all that.
I'm not convinced that COVID had killed a lot of people.
He questions whether the home was letting the sick die
rather than transfer them to hospital.
This is where my anxiety grew to like fear.
Raquel John-Matuzewiski had the same worries
and asked the home early what would happen if her dad Chester tested positive.
Basically he would be moved into palliative care.
They also told me was because the hospital was not accepting patients.
But the hospital has told us they were always accepting patients.
So we asked Extendicare, the for-profit chain which runs Orchard Villa
and dozens of homes across Canada
why they were telling loved ones that hospitals weren't accepting the infected?
The company tells us they can't discuss individual resident matters.
But Raquel took action to save her father's life.
First convincing a care worker to break the rules.
Make a video call so she could see her dad up close.
I saw my dad.
Yeah.
He was very weak, wasn't able to even make eye contact.
So I cut that call short and I called the nurses station
and I told them that I needed him to be transported immediately.
[Reporter] The home relented.
But at the hospital, Raquel is told her father's poor condition was not just because of the virus.
He was severely dehydrated and malnourished.
What did that tell you?
It told me obviously that he was not being fed or being nourished or hydrated
the way they had told me he had been for weeks.
Do you feel today that Orchard Villa was invested in saving your dad's life?
That's a hard, really hard question.
I can't, I can't say yes.
How's your dad today?
Oh my dad is here.
And I'm so grateful and thankful for that.
[Reporter] A feeding tube and IV drip brought him back.
He's now COVID-free.
When your dad is well enough to leave hospital.
Will he go back to Orchard Villa?
No.
[Reporter] You didn't take very long to answer that.
No.
I told them that on the day he was admitted.
No, the trust has been broken.
[Reporter] That is a common theme for families gathering outside Orchard Villa.
Calling out the names of the lost.
Raquel left with questions about what might have happened
had she not intervened.
Cathy pained with what did happen.
And whether her dad might have been saved.
David Commons, CBC News, Pickering Ontario.