Quebec health agency investigating after elderly couple found dead in Anjou home

An elderly couple receiving services from Quebec's health and social services agency (CIUSSS) in Montreal's east end was found dead in their home in Anjou,Wednesday.

The 87-year-old man and his86-year-old wifewere found in their home on de la Roche sur Yon Avenue in Anjou.

Montreal police say the incident isn't criminal. There were no traces of violence on the couple's bodies, nor was the home broken into.

The case has been transferred to the coroner, and an autopsy will be carried out to determine the exact cause of the couple's deaths and how much time passed between when they died and when their bodies were discovered.

Yvan Gendron, the headof the CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'le-de-Montral, told Radio-Canada the agency is working with police and the coroner, and it has launched its own independent investigation into what happened.

"We're very upset because we're very close to our people, to our elderly people, [and] we want to give them the maximum of care and services," Gendron said.

"This type of situation, with elderly people who are isolated, is always very worrying for us."

It remains unclear what services the couple was receiving from the CIUSSS.

Gendron said information about those services and the couple's health is confidential.

Chantal Legault, who lives three houses down from the couple, told CBC News that she went to check their mailbox on Wednesday after another neighbour noticed no one had taken out the garbage in over a month.

She said that they used to take regular walks and would visit neighbours, but no one had seen them recently.

"When I was really close to the mailbox, I looked inside the house and I saw so many flies," she said. "I knew there was something wrong."

The neighbours then called the police. Officers arrived about 15 minutes later, Legault said.

Another neighbour, Marc Chiasson, said he used to visitthe couple regularly. He said they took pride in their home, where they had lived for 40 years.

In late July, he called 911 after not hearing from them for several days.

The woman was taken to hospital after that call. When she returned, Legault said she was "very weak."

Legault said that the last time she saw a worker from the CIUSSS knock on the couple's door, no one answered.

When a home-care worker does not get a response at the door, they are supposed to follow their policy of non-response. That includes informing their dispatcher that no one answered, and following up to see if the patient had been hospitalized.

If they cannot find the patient, a 911 call is to be placed.

It is not known at this time if any of these steps were followed in this case.

With files from CBC reporter Sudha Krishnan, Radio-Canada and La Presse Canadienne.