New drop-in centre for seniors opens in Cote-St-Luc

CTV Montreal: New CSL seniors' centre A new drop-in centre for seniors opened in Cote-St-Luc on Monday, providing a much-needed replacement for the recently-closed Rene Cassin Ce

A new drop-in centre for seniors opened in Cote-St-Luc on Monday, providing a much-needed replacement for the recently-closed Rene Cassin Centre.

The new program, located in the Cote-St-Luc aquatic and community centre, will be open on Mondays to Fridays between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and will be available for up to 12 seniors each day.

The Rene Cassin Centre, which was run by the local CLSC at the Cavendish Mall, closed last week after a lengthy battle. The new drop-in centre was organized by the Cummings Centre in conjunction with municipal and provincial organizations, as well as former Cote-St-Luc mayor and current Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather.

“People approached me and said you have to do something. So as mayor I got the Cummings Centre to work with Cote St. Luc and Hampstead to open a centre in Cote St. Luc and it all depended on getting a federal grant and by luck and happenstance I got elected as member of parliament and then I was able to go and chase down money to be able to open it,” he said.

The program will also be open to residents of neighbouring areas such as Montreal West and NDG.

“In the 21st century it's going to take every partner to take care of our seniors. The needs are terribly great,” said D’Arcy-McGee MNA David Birnbaum

Supervisor Erica Botner said the program will allow seniors to thrive while also ensuring family caregivers get some much-needed rest.

“A lot of these families are sort of at their wits end in terms of lacking support and services they need,” she said. “Caregivers are doing their job 24/7 and they really feel like they need a break and need to know the place they’re bringing their loved one too is going to take really good care of them. And the participants who are coming need to still be seen as people and need to still be able to use their skills and talents.”

The new drop-in centre was welcome news for Marilyn Livingstone, who has been a full-time caregiver for her husband, who has dementia.

“It has to be done and he deserves to have me do it,” she said, adding that the former drop-in centre was a lifeline for both of them. “It saved him, because he was a lost soul. Now look, he's singing and he hasn't been like that for a year. He came back. It's so important.”