The Network Comes Together for Actionmarguerite

25 February, 2022 | Actionmarguerite

As the fifth wave of the pandemic picked up speed in late 2021 and into 2022, Actionmarguerite, a long-term care facility with three locations and a supportive housing program, felt the burden acutely. Keeping residents safe, filling staff absences and restricting family and volunteer support came together to cause long days for all.

Micheline St-Hilaire, the CEO of Actionmarguerite, realized that the other members of Réseau Compassion Network might have the capacity to help, and she reached out. Many answered the call.

Karen Fowler, the CEO of St. Boniface Hospital Foundation, connected Actionmarguerite with some of her restaurant donors to help show appreciation for staff who were giving it their all in difficult circumstances. “We knew right away that if we could help, we would,” she explains. “We’re always applauding our health care heroes, but we often focus on hospital employees. We know that folks working in long term care are working just as hard to take care of their residents.”

Tim Horton’s and Pho Yo, a Vietnamese restaurant in St. Vital, stepped up to offer lunches, coffee and snacks for employees. St-Hilaire says that the gesture means more than just a hot meal. “It reminds us that we are so well surrounded in our community. It’s businesses saying that they see us, they hear us and they want to support us in their own way.”

Staff from Actionmarguerite pick up their goodies

While the donations are appreciated, the logistics around distributing them can be tricky, especially when faced with staffing shortages. “We wanted to make sure that we were able to treat people on day, evening and night shifts,” continues St-Hilaire. “Our Director of Care was willing to go out at night to pick up the treats, but he was already working so many extra hours. So, we reached out to St.Amant.”

Volunteers at St.Amant have been unable to perform many of their normal tasks due to the pandemic, so when the Volunteer Services team there asked if anyone had some time to support Actionmarguerite, 12 people volunteered to pick up and deliver the restaurant deliveries. “These folks were out at our locations at 11:30 at night!” says St-Hilaire. “And two of our managers came in to play some music and try to make it a fun experience. We also distributed surgical caps that were made by volunteers from Bell MTS, which were beautiful and really useful for staff.”

Lastly, Centre de santé, which had been less impacted by the fifth wave, was able to redeploy three of their staff to Actionmarguerite to help wherever they could. “I spoke to Stéphanie Roy, their Executive Director, and she was able to remove barriers for us so we could get some extra help when we really needed it,” explains St-Hilaire. “They showed up and acted as extenders; wherever they could help, they did. It was truly teamwork, all the way around.”

St-Hilaire is grateful for the support received from across the network, and for the continued hard work and flexibility of the staff at Actionmarguerite. “We know it’s still so hard right now,” she says. “These exchanges and gestures remind us that we’re not alone. We’re thankful to have the support of our network and our community.”