Press clippings: week of December 10, 2007
CSL Press Clippings
Coupures de journaux CSL
Prepared by the Department of Public Affairs and Communications
Week of December 10, 2007
Preparé par le Département des affaires publiques et des communications
Semaine du 10 décembre 2007
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In this issue
Dans ce numéro
CTV News report on Governor General medal
CSL seniors bring holiday cheer to the Old Brewery Mission
Suburban writer saves woman's life
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Accolade
Sheldon Goldberg, a volunteer with Côte St. Luc’s Emergency Medical Services department and the ambulance service Hatzoloh, was presented Monday night with the Governor General’s Exemplary Service Medal during a ceremony at Côte St. Luc city hall. The award is given to those who have completed at least 20 years of outstanding service in pre-hospital emergency medical care.
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CTV News report on Governor General medal
December 10, 2007
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CSL seniors bring holiday cheer to the Old Brewery Mission
by Charles Montgomery
December 12, 2007
Last Thursday evening, five members of Côte Saint-Luc’s Senior Men’s Social Club walked through the front doors of the Old Brewery Mission’s Webster Pavilion, located on a small stretch of Clark street, tucked between Chinatown and Old Montreal.
They were late arriving due to mountains of freshly fallen snow, but not one of the men showed any signs of agitation. As they entered the shelter’s large cafeteria sporting big smiles, they traded their coats for aprons, and it seemed as though everyone in the room gravitated naturally towards their paternal presence.
That night, these enthusiastic men would serve a well needed hot meal to over 300 of Montreal’s neediest souls, as well as providing a $1500 donation to the Old Brewery Mission.
The club’s president, Archie Moss, appeared to be keeping a modest demeanor when he spoke to The Chronicle about the Senior Men’s Social Club’s (SMSC) tradition of volunteering at the Mission during the holidays.
As the conversation continued, it became clear that the SMSC’s activities are so entrenched in the spirit of volunteer work that it wouldn’t occur to Moss to inject any kind of grand rhetoric into what he considers an everyday task.
“I don’t know what kind of a message we can send other than what we do,” said Moss when asked if there was a message the SMSC was trying to get across. “I think that the community knows that we do a lot of volunteer work.”
The club is based out of the Côte Saint-Luc’s Senior Social Center, where the city provides them a free office and meeting space. “I always joke to the fellows that the city wants to keep us off the street so they started a senior social club just to get us someplace to meet,” said Moss.
And their meetings have been fruitful. The SMSC has come to be known as a reliable resource of volunteers for institutions across the city. With over 400 registered members, Moss says that often hospitals or seniors’ homes will call looking for volunteers, and he can usually oblige them.
On the same night that Moss and his four co-members were at the Old Brewery Mission, another group from the SMSC was at the Miriam Home in Laval, helping out with a Chanukah/Christmas party being held there.
While Moss downplayed his club’s work at the Old Brewery Mission, Cindy Hershon, the Mission’s director of development, was more vocal in saying how important their contribution was.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Hershon of the SMSC’s impact. She said that there was a different energy in the air when the men were serving the meals because of natural comfort their presence provided.
The SMSC were just one of the groups who participated in a sponsor-and-serve night at the Old Brewery Mission. Groups can sponsor a night’s meal and then have the opportunity to come and serve the food that they’ve paid for.
“For your average charity, you give donations, but you never see it,” said Hershon. “Here a group of people get together and they see their money; they see what their doing, it’s feeding all these people.”
During the holidays, the Old Brewery Mission is flooded with groups who want to sponsor a meal, but according to Hershon, people forget that they don’t just serve meals during the holidays.
“We’re open 365 nights a year and we’re aiming to have 365 nights sponsored, but not all nights are sponsored,” said Hershon.
The Old Brewery Mission not only provides meals, but also a network of social services and close to two hundred beds for the city’s less fortunate. But for all these services, the government only provides about ten per cent of their total cost needs, so donations are always needed.
Those interested in helping out can take a look at the Old Brewery Mission’s website www.oldbrewerymission.ca
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Around the towns
By Joel Goldenberg and Dan Delmar, The Suburban
December 12, 2007
BUDGET MEETINGS: Hampstead and Côte St. Luc are both holding budget meetings 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17. Hampstead’s meeting is at the Adessky Community Centre in Hampstead Park and Côte St. Luc’s is at city hall, 5801 Cavendish Blvd.
TOWN HOUSE PROPOSAL: A new 21-unit townhouse condominium complex project is being proposed for Marc Chagall Avenue in Côte St. Luc, District 2 councillor Mike Cohen announced this week. Cohen told area constituents about the project during a recent District 2 meeting, saying that the project will have to be approved by Côte St. Luc council as it involves a zoning change from commercial to residential. Cohen says the city’s planning advisory committee believes the complex would be a “good fit for the area”. Cohen also said the units will have four bedrooms, with two underground parking spots per home. Units will cost from $400,000 to $490,000 each.
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Suburban writer saves woman's life
By Joel Goldenberg, The Suburban
December 12, 2007
More people should be trained in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, because situations where CPR is desperately and quickly needed can arise at any time, says Pointe Claire resident Mark Lidbetter.
Lidbetter, sports coordinator at The Suburban, knows that better than most. He was working at his full-time job at the IGA in Côte St. Luc’s Cavendish Mall Saturday afternoon when he was alerted by a co-worker that a woman had collapsed. Lidbetter, who also coaches and referees, has been trained in CPR ever since his days as a lifeguard, and was recertified a year and a half ago as part of a CSST course.
“I was trained as a first responder,” he explained Monday. “When I got to the end of the cashes, there was a woman on the floor, and when I got to her, she had no pulse. The store director, Daniel Kraft, called 9-1-1 and I started to apply CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
“About eight or nine minutes after I started doing it, [Côte St. Luc’s Emergency Medical Services] arrived. I gave way to them. Urgences Santé arrived and they both worked on her, they got her into the ambulance. Later, I was sitting down having my lunch — and you always wonder if you did any good. Two gentlemen from EMS come over and shook my hand, and said they were able to re-establish a pulse and they were working on her at the hospital.”
Lidbetter said not enough people are trained in CPR.
“If you collapse in the United States on any street corner in any town, you have maybe a one in three chance of someone knowing CPR,” he said. “Here, it’s [less of a chance].”
He also pointed out that if someone’s heart has stopped for a long time, oxygen is lost and permanent brain damage or brain death can occur.
“It’s important to have someone there within the first 10 minutes, within the Golden Hour when they go to the hospital. CPR is something you’re trained in, that you never want to have to use. And if the time comes, you wonder ‘will I react, will I do it right?’ I was proud I was able to react and respond in that way.”
Lidbetter added that, the day before the incident, he heard of a report where there is a higher incidence of heart attacks just before the holidays.
“People should give themselves a gift by training in CPR.”
And as former Côte St. Luc EMS director Hal Newman recently wrote in The Suburban, automatic defibrillators in public buildings are vitally needed to more quickly save lives.
Stéphane Kallos, current director of EMS in Côte St. Luc, agrees about the importance of learning CPR. He points out that the possibility of brain damage can even start at the four-minute point.
“Every second counts at the moment of a cardiac arrest, and much as EMS responds quickly, there’s always going to be a few minutes before we arrive. The quicker CPR is done, the less likely there is to be any permanent damage to the brain or to the heart, and the better the chances of a defibrillator shock working. Much of defibrillators are great, if no one is doing CPR, often a shock can’t work if a heart has been deprived of oxygen too long. The faster someone is doing CPR on the spot, and the faster a shock can be given, the chances of survival are greater — 10 percentage chances are lost every minute until a shock is given, but if CPR is being given, we only lose five to seven percent per minute.”