Elders at Kahnawake hospital enjoy parking lot song and dance

New seniors homes hope to curb spread of illnesses Quebec is moving ahead with plans to build new seniors homes aimed at preventing the transmission of infections.

MONTREAL — A local DJ treated residents of The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre in Kahnawake, QC to outdoor music on Wednesday.

Mouchie Goodleaf, the son of Kateri resident Angus "Buddy" Goodleaf, brightened up the elders’ afternoon by blasting oldies for them from a parking lot as they watched from their balconies. Soon after, relatives of other residents began to dance in front of the hospital.

“I didn’t ask anyone to come dance,” Goodleaf told CTV News. “It all just came together... People started dancing after hearing the music, and everyone followed the distancing rules. It was nice that the other families got to see their loved ones too, albeit from a distance.”

Goodleaf, who has DJ’d as a hobby for 42 years and runs Mouchie's Mobile Music, would entertain the elderly two to three times per month before the hospital suspended visits on March 12 due to COVID-19. Since then, he reaches out to his father who has stayed there for the past year over the phone.

“They have him call us on FaceTime at least once per week, but I know it’s been hard on him,” said Goodleaf. “We used to go see him every day because we live nearby. Whenever I ask him how he is, he always says ‘no problem,’ but he cried at the end when I spoke to him.”

With the hospital’s approval, Goodleaf plans to continue playing the classics his father loves outside the hospital as the weather warms up.