Citizens will buy air conditioners for CHSLDS
As temperatures rise, organizers won’t wait for government to provide relief
Ben Graur was thinking about the horrific living conditions in seniors’ residences during the COVID-19 pandemic when his mind harked back to the summer of 2018.
That July, an intense heat wave led to the death of at least 90 vulnerable seniors across the province.
With summer fast approaching, Graur feared that another heat wave — like the one this week — could result in more deaths in long-term care residences.
So last Friday, Graur spent $1,600 to buy four air conditioners that he plans to donate to CHSLDS.
“I’m a concerned citizen and there was nothing in the news about how we are going to protect seniors from the heat,” said Graur, a businessman who lives in Dollard-desOrmeaux.
Graur was worried the COVID -19 crisis would prevent staff from moving seniors to common areas that have air-conditioning units and feared they’d be left to swelter in their rooms. He has taken the initiative to start a grassroots campaign to provide air conditioners to as many seniors as possible, requesting help from family and friends and spreading the news on community Facebook pages in D.D.O. and Côte-st-luc.
Graur then sought out Montreal businesswoman Leah Lasry, and within 24 hours they had raised at least $40,000.
“Forty-thousand dollars buys a lot of air conditioners,” said Lasry, who has pledged $10,000 and has persuaded friends to do the same.
Graur is also planning to raise $10,000 and would like municipal, provincial and federal governments to help out.
Lasry knows the provincial health department is responsible for keeping seniors’ residences cool, but said they can’t depend on the government to act quickly. Less than one-third of rooms in Quebec’s CHSLDS have air conditioning.
“I have learned that when you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself,” said Lasry, who spearheaded a campaign last year to block the demolition of apartment buildings in Hampstead.
“Every air conditioner we place and every senior that gets relief in a heat wave like this will make a difference.”
Air conditioners will be donated to seniors over 65 who live in a CHSLD or a private residence. Anyone with a severe health condition, like multiple sclerosis, can also apply. Applicants will have to fill out a one-page questionnaire at acforseniors.com.
“If you qualify, we will contact you and put in the air conditioner,” Lasry said.
Seniors is CHSLDS and other residences must have permission from administrators to have a unit installed.
Extreme heat can be fatal for vulnerable seniors, Montreal’s public health director Mylène Drouin said Tuesday when asked whether using air-conditioning units could spread the novel coronavirus in residences.
“(The heat) is an immediate risk that we judged prevailed when compared to the risk of spreading COVID -19,” she added.
Lasry said that news reports of the appalling conditions in many residences, such as seniors being left in soiled diapers, have encouraged the campaign to make seniors more comfortable on sweltering summer days.
“We are going to do this one air conditioner at a time,” she said.