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Thérèse-De Blainville PD in full swing

Dimitris Ilias
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Thérèse-De Blainville PD in full swing
Inspector Martin Charron is a 30-year veteran of the Thérèse-De Blainville PD

Inspector Martin Charron talks about new challenges in the Covid-19 Thérèse-De Blainville neighborhoods.

By Dimitris Ilias

Although when we think of front-line fighters in the Covid-19 war we imagine our doctors and nurses (deservedly so), it is easy to overlook the police even if sometimes their role has a more uncomfortable element when it comes to enforcing rules set for our protection. In my interview with inspector Martin Charron, all I could sense was a fierce dedication to the residents of his area and a strong desire to keep them safe during these “twilight zone” times we are living.

Inspector Martin Charron

Inspector Martin Charron is a 30-year veteran of the Thérèse-De Blainville PD.  Graduating from the police academy in November 1990 he is currently responsible for the communications office and the Prevention and Operational Support section. He is very proud of being part of a superb team and member of the general staff and he participates in the sound management of the department and in the decisions that are taken regularly to benefit citizen security. He decided to become a police officer at the age of 19 after studying administration in CEGEP. “We are a very open organisation” he told NSN when first asked for this interview.

Covid-19 reality

The RIPTB (Régie intermunicipale de police Thérèse-De Blainville) covers 4 municipalities : Boisbriand, Lorraine, Rosemère and Sainte-Thérèse. According to inspector Charron, these cities acted quickly to implement measures to enforce the instructions of the Government of Quebec. The RIPTB effectuated an emergency measure plan and several actions were quickly implemented to ensure the health and safety of staff and citizens. The new situation caused a dramatic decrease in calls related to criminal acts and the significant reduction in traffic on the region’s roads resulting in a sharp decrease in collisions.

“Daily, we follow press briefings by the Prime Minister and his colleagues from the Ministry of Health and Public Health, we take our role very seriously, we are partners in public health and we know that together we will achieve our goals, keep our citizens healthy and safe” said inspector Charron in his interview with the NSN. The new situation compelled the RIPTB to create working committees with the different divisions and sections and with union representatives as well as to find solutions and put in place actions to promote efficiency.

Opération Voisinage

One such initiative was operation Voisinage which is a type of neighborhood watch covid-style. It urges residents to call the police to report any concerns of theirs that have to do with a situation that they became aware of, that involves physical, psychological abuse or neglect.

“Citizens are not afraid, they do have their worries, of course, but they are well referred by our call center staff and our police” said Charron. The RIPTB advises citizens and refers them to community organizations or the 811.

10 tickets – hundreds of warnings

Inspector Charron confirmed that to date, 10 tickets have been issued and hundreds of warnings have been given for violations that have to do with the law on social distancing. But the overwhelming majority of the citizens understand the situation and respect the rules. Citizens are also invited to listen to press briefings from government authorities, to go to the information web pages and to offer quality time to community organizations if possible. The jebénévole.ca platform is the perfect place to register.

Officer morale and health

“Morale is very good; we work as a team” confirmed inspector Charron. He emphasized that during these hard times, officers take the time to communicate well with each other, they hold zoom meetings twice a day, every day, in order to quickly meet the expectations of staff, citizens, municipalities, partners and the media. The new challenges for the RIPTB are to meet public health expectations and actively participate in the Prime Minister’s objectives, enforce decrees and protect their citizens.

“From the start, our priority was the health of our staff, we have the equipment necessary to deal with this pandemic, human resources are doing an exemplary job, the guidelines are well established and an internal communication chain has been put in place as soon as the start in order to keep staff well informed”

Awareness and information are the preferred approaches by all police forces in Quebec today according to inspector Martin Charron. The police are present and will continue to intervene, while respecting the powers granted to them in the context of a health emergency.

COVID-19 death of an employee of the CISSS des Laurentides

Dimitris Ilias
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COVID-19 death of an employee of the CISSS des Laurentides
COVID-19 death of an employee of the CISSS des Laurentides

A sad announcement
The Integrated Center of Health and Social Services (CISSS) of the Laurentians is mourning the sad death of one of its employees of the COVID-19. She was beneficiary attendant who worked at CHSLD Lucien-G. Rolland of Saint-Jérôme.
The lady worked for the CISSS des Laurentides since June 2010 as a beneficiary attendant.
An investigation is underway by the Public Health Department to determine whether the latter has been
contaminated at his workplace. “I share with our staff a great sadness at the loss of this devoted and appreciated colleague. This employee deserves to be remembered. Today and after the pandemic, we will have to remember her and, to console us, think of all those we will have cared for with humanity, all those we will have succeeded in saving “, underlined Rosemonde Landry, president and director General of the CISSS des Laurentides.

Measures in place
Rigorous measures are in place in the CHSLDs to ensure infection control and thus avoid possible contamination. While these measures are sufficient, risk of transmission cannot completely eliminated given the number of people involved. The virus is circulating in the community and some
people may be asymptomatic. However, it should be noted that the employees of the CISSS des Laurentides benefit currently from all the protective equipment necessary to ensure the safety of personnel and physicians.

In the event of an outbreak
When a COVID-19 outbreak situation is identified in the various living environments, an investigation is immediately initiated. In addition, the following protection measures are also applied:
• The residents concerned are isolated;
• Containment of one or more units is implemented, if necessary;
• Staff travel is limited;
• Screening of residents and employees is done according to the conclusions of the investigation;
• Appropriate use by personnel of personal protective equipment;
• Wearing the procedural mask at all times for all health workers located less
than two meters from a resident or a colleague;
• The implementation of the INSPQ recommendations.

Rosemère honors CHSLD Hubert-Maisonneuve Workers

Dimitris Ilias
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Rosemère honors CHSLD Hubert-Maisonneuve Workers
Rosemère honors CHSLD Hubert-Maisonneuve Workers

It was an emotional moment when the Town of Rosemère paid tribute to the workers at the CHSLD Hubert-Maisonneuve last Friday. For the occasion, a number of Town trucks and employees formed a Guard of Honor in support of the outstanding workers who are tirelessly devoting their efforts to helping the sick, despite the risks associated with their tasks in times of pandemic.
“These admirable human beings are truly champions who deserve all our recognition and gratitude. Day after day, night after night, they ensure the health and well-being of our seniors and vulnerable people in extremely difficult circumstances. They work to save the lives of those who built our Québec society. There are no words powerful enough to show how exemplary their commitment and passion are!” stated Mayor Eric Westram.
At the same time, the Town thanked all the “essential” people who are working in the health sector, whether in the region’s hospitals, medical clinics or other seniors’ centers.

Retraction of flood risk notice in Sainte-Thérèse

Dimitris Ilias
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Retraction of flood risk notice in Sainte-Thérèse
Spring time flood warnings

The City of Sainte-Thérèse officially retracted the flood risk notice on its territory. As the snowmelt has ended, the City is no longer worried of flooding in the Rivière aux Chiens sector.

The water level in the river has dropped and stabilized at normal levels over the past few days. It is noteworthy that rivers like the Mille-Îles River have no impact on the Rivière aux Chiens. The City of Sainte-Thérèse continues to monitor the level of the river and remains ready to intervene if necessary.

No building was affected by the flooding at Sainte-Thérèse. The water from the Rivière aux Chiens reached certain areas, as did Richelieu Park, but no damage to the properties was identified. The various municipal stakeholders acted quickly on the ground to ensure the protection of the residents affected in the event of a flood.

Rosemère cancels activities

Dimitris Ilias
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Rosemère cancels activities

The city of Rosemère just like a lot of others before it was forced to cancel or postpone a number of its spring and summer activities.

“We are very disappointed by this decision, but in view of the situation we are facing at the present time, we must follow the Québec government’s orders and put the health and safety of our residents first. We usually have a very active community life and always with a large turnout of Rosemerites. Let’s encourage each other by telling ourselves that it will all be back,” stated Mayor Eric Westram.

Although the city cancelled the activities it nevertheless invites residents to check the website in order to view the complete list. The decision on whether or not to hold certain activities has not yet been made, such as the day camps and the opening of the pool and tennis courts.

Cancelled events, activities and shows

The home garage sales (May 16 and June 6), Neighbours’ Day (June 6), the outdoor movies (June 19 and August 14), the summer and family concerts, the Open House at the pool (June 27), the special horticultural event (July 12), the Family Day at the pool (August 7), Citizens Day (August 22) as well as a number of cultural activities organized by the library have unfortunately been cancelled.

Back to the Earth Day, which was scheduled for May 23, is maintained, however, the formula will be reviewed in order to comply with government directives. More information will be announced soon.

Events, activities and shows postponed

Some activities and events will be postponed to a later date. These include the White on White event (rescheduled for summer 2021), the Babysitting course and Stay Safe course (rescheduled for fall 2020), Jonas’ concert (time to be confirmed), the launch of the Seed Library (rescheduled for summer 2020), the mega garage sale at the train station (rescheduled for fall 2020), the Rosemère en santé race (rescheduled for fall 2020) and a few conferences planned at the library.

Honoring volunteers

Dimitris Ilias
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Honoring volunteers
CISSS des Laurentides honoring its volunteers

The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) des Laurentides will take the opportunity to highlight the important contribution made by its many volunteers in helping to fulfill its mission during National Volunteer Week 2020, April 19 to 25

In the Laurentians, more than 1500 individuals volunteer in some 80 establishments of the CISSS des Laurentides, are contributing to the patients’ well-being, whether directly or by participating in committees or by involvement in one of the foundations.

“At present, because of the pandemic, we can only applaud our volunteers from a distance for all that they do, but we hope that the walls that protect us will not mute our thanks to each of them. This week exists to celebrate their work and we want to emphasize their commitment and devotion. The contribution of our volunteers is invaluable and takes many forms,” said Rosemonde Landry, the CISSS’ PDG. Their invaluable contributions are manifested everywhere:  In retirement homes, they accompany residents during activities, friendly visits, outings, medical appointments, and provide help at meal times. In hospitals, they greet patients on arrival, give them information, guide and direct them to their appointments, patrol hospital hallways to provide assistance, offer coffee or juice to patients in waiting rooms.

They also contribute their expertise to various projects. They are men and women, students, retirees, workers, young adults and grandparents from different walks of life. Each and every one of them shares a common goal: to bring comfort in sickness, to be helpful, to give back!

In other words, volunteers are passionate, very committed people, they show up every day. They generously contribute their time and energy, for free. Their presence is essential; they enhance the patients’ well-being.

It is going to be a tough year

Dimitris Ilias
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It is going to be a tough year

Deux Montagnes mayor Denis Martin thanks citizens for following directions.

Deux Montagnes mayor Denis Martin thanks citizens for following directions.

Dimitris Ilias

For a person like Denis Martin, mayor of the city of Deux Montagnes, whose job relies so much on human contact, covid-19 has been an unexpected and devastating new reality hitting pause on everyday life. A city with so many activities in the spring planned and then cancelled, has to learn how to live a new life of social distancing and closures.

The mood of Deux Montagnes
“My job is to meet with the citizens and to be in line with what they need. Understandably this is very hard now which makes my job more difficult” said mayor Denis Martin. “We have a lot of different activities like the flower festival, Saint Jean-Baptiste, Canada Day etc”.
Deux Montagnes is a tight-knit community and people depend on all the activities the city offers; they are used to them and they represent an important part of their lives. The mayor was worried about the mood of his constituents during the 6-12-month period of a break from all these activities. Since all of them were postponed the city is trying to keep the much-needed contact with the residents by having the white-collar workers call homes directly to check up on them and see how they’re going. “Even though the system has been working, human contact is still missed of course” said Mr. Martin.

Rules respected
A common positive trait shared by residents in many cities in the Laurentians is that people have been respecting the social distancing rule and in general they have been following the guidelines of the government with the only exception being that of the contagion in the Boisbriand Hassidic community. Denis Martin was happy to report a similar situation in Deux Montagnes. “A lot of them are taking walks and I have been driving around always maintaining my distance speaking to the citizens. So far they’ve been taking it well” said the mayor. The police are rarely called, only three or four minor incidents, and most of the times to inform the citizens and give them instructions.

The dark cloud over local businesses
The fate of the local businesses has been one of mayor Martins’ biggest concerns.
“Some of restaurants have transformed into delivery services while others closed completely. I do not know how they are going to reopen and I’m quite worried about them” said the mayor. A lot of closed small businesses have lost their clientele so they’re also going to be affected when this is over. “In collaboration with the MRC and the funds that have been set aside by the government we are looking in to different ways of helping these businesses survive this”.
In terms of measures to relieve financial strain to the citizens the city of Two Mountains in these trying times, just like the other cities in the Laurentians, TM has cut interest and penalties until July 1st giving the residents a chance to receive the different financial aid packages from the federal government. What will happen next, however, will remain an ongoing reflection for mayor Martin and the city council in the coming weeks.

Safe from flooding
“As far as the danger of flooding goes the city is well prepared” declared the mayor. Since 2017, TM has been in collaboration with the MRC for the completion of a significant anti-flooding dyke. This was completed in January, significantly increasing the city’s protection from flooding during the spring thaw.
The mayor confirmed, as well, the purchase of about 3,000 sandbags should the citizens need them however, he did not see a cause for alarm especially this year.

Deux Montagnes line closed
One of the situations the city had to contend with, was the closure of the AMT (now EXO) line of the REM train Deux Montagnes. This brought a lot of headache and strife to the commuters not only for TM but to all the communities affected along the line including the juggernaut municipality of St-Laurent. The mayor saw a positive effect of people working from home in DM since that would reduce the need to use the train making the service less missed while construction and repairs are been made.

Mayor Westram says: “People first, dollars second”

Dimitris Ilias
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Mayor Westram says: “People first, dollars second”
Mayor Westram is now captaining Rosemère through the Covid-19 storm

Dimitris Ilias

Working primarily from home and social distancing when he has no choice, Eric Westram, father of 3 and grandfather of 5, current mayor of Rosemère takes the Covid-19 craziness in stride.

Having had a flourishing 25 years career in the pulp and paper industry and 10 years in the industrial sector, mayor Westram is now captaining Rosemère through the Covid-19 storm.

People first

The first focus of the City was to support the population groups more affected from the virus. The elderly and sick people were given priority through distribution of food and other necessities as well as psychological support.

Eventually the city of Rosemère expanded its support to the younger age groups for example the 40 and 50 year olds. Many of the employees of the city have been tasked with helping these age groups by doing friendship calls, basically phone calls to chat and to lift people out of the isolation. Another challenge was how to keep all the city of Rosemère employees employed. “Right now 95% or 96 % of our white collar workers are working from home. As for the blue collars we made changes into how the teams are organized so that they maintain the proper distance from each other in order to make sure that essential services are maintained” said mayor Westram. The city still has to ensure the drinking water is still good and the sewer systems repaired and maintained especially during the spring thaw and the flooding danger. Garbage and recycling still have to be picked up so it was a challenge to make sure that everyone was kept busy. “I did not want to save money at this critical moment since for me people are first and dollars are second” said mayor Westram.

Dollars second

The economic impact on the city because of the Covid-19 contagion is the second biggest concern for the mayor. At the moment a whole slew of measures to help local businesses and residents similar to the measures taken by the neighbouring towns have been in effect. Cancellation of penalties and interest as well as the possibility of delayed payments are part of the city of Rosemère relief package. The mayor indicated that his team is preparing two new budgets, one pessimistic and one optimistic, in order to be ready for what’s coming.  Right now the city’s cash flow is being affected especially since real estate transactions are grinding to a halt. “The welcome tax, for example, provides the city with an average of 1.5 million dollars”  said the mayor. Real estate agents have been advising the mayor that things are getting very slow which will affect greatly the city’s revenue. “Tax payments pushed back of a couple of months from the residents it’s not a big deal but when you have a big place like place Rosemère which in essence is closed,  apart from a few online transactions, you can imagine the effect this has on the city coffers” said Mr. Westram.

The home, the office and the streets

The mayor however is not working entirely from home. 50% of his time is spent delegating from his house, 30% from his office and a 20% of his precious time is spent on the street providing support to people and talking to them always maintaining a 2-meter distance. It still remains a challenge according to mayor Westram to continue a complicated job like his this way. ”The most difficult thing is to find yourself alone with no contact with your fellow workers. We have been using online technology like Zoom to do our meetings and I do see everyone, but it’s not the same thing being humanly close to each other. On the personal side not being able to see your kids or your grandchildren especially when they live around the block is hard. If the human race wants to survive it has to adapt to these challenges. We will get over this” concluded mayor Westram.

The spring thaw

As far as the danger of flooding this season because of the spring thaw, the mayor sounded relieved that up to now things have been going well. The weather has been cooperating with positive temperatures during the day and minus temperatures during the night making the thaw more gradual. The river levels right now are way below what they were at this time last year. “If things change however, we use a lot of blue-collar workers, a lot of volunteers, even elected officials to put sandbags around people’s properties to protect from flooding. With covid-19, we won’t be able to do that since we do not want to put volunteers at risk” said the mayor.

So, the sandbags that have been ordered and delivered to the city’s warehouses will be put on the sides of the streets for residents to pick up should the need arise.

The post Covid-19 Rosemère

The mayor predicted positive effects brought through adversity.

“Ours is a close-knit community” said Mr. Westram. “Bonds will be strengthened family values will play an even bigger role. We are already seeing a change by the incredible response we had when we asked for volunteers to help residents in need. I am really proud of our community – we are doing very well” concluded the mayor.

The CISSS des Laurentides offers emergency aid to community organizations in the Sainte-Thérèse region

Dimitris Ilias
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The CISSS des Laurentides offers emergency aid to community organizations in the Sainte-Thérèse region
  • Chief executive officer of the CISSS des Laurentides, Ms. Rosemonde Landry

The Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) Laurentian is offering a one-time financial assistance of $838,016 to community organizations whose activities are considered a priority to meet the needs of the population during the current context of the pandemic.

The president and chief executive officer of the CISSS des Laurentides, Ms. Rosemonde Landry, praised the exceptional work of community organizations in the Laurentians region. “Many needs are observed in the field and organizations are hard at work to maintain various essential services” she said.

Special care has been taken to adapt certain activities in order to protect against the virus the volunteers and workers in the community environment as well as the beneficiaries of those services. In order to support the efforts made, the CISSS des Laurentides undertakes to quickly identify eligible community organizations and pay them the money within a short time.

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