Comfortable group homes for the intellectually deficient

Lamy and Aladin immediately understand what he wants. "Aww, he needs a hug," explains Lamy as she obliges, Aladin smiling fondly behind them.

The client is a stay-in patient with Down syndrome, one of five who suffer from intellectual deficiencies and live in a group home in Dorval run by the Fondation Yvon Lamarre. Louis Aladin is the Fondation's resource person and operator there. Lamy is his contact person for Lisette Dupras, a Quebec-run service centre in Montreal which works in tandem with several organizations such as Yvon Lamarre's in order to help out the intellectually deficient.

The Dorval home is the oldest of eight in the West Island run by Yvon Lamarre. "Our goal is to give our clients here as safe and normal a life as possible," said Lamy. This means keeping both the inside and outside of the house as uncluttered of tell-tale modifications for assistance to the intellectually deficient as possible. There is a ramp for wheelchair access outside the house, for example, but you can only see it if you open the door to the backyard.

Inside, the home looks as comfortable and convenient as possible. A small fence prevents stray wanderers from falling down the stairs, and an extra handhold provides assistance to any who wish to go up and down. A double door makes access to bathrooms easier.

Comfortable as a home is, it is also not somewhere the patients should stay all the time, explained Aladin. "I try to take them out quite frequently," he said, whether for mundane daily activities like shopping or something more exciting, like a supper at the Montreal Casino restaurant a couple of weeks ago.

"Their lives do have to be as normal as possible," said Sylvie Huard, who runs a similar Fondation group home in Pointe Claire. To that end, families of the clients are also free to visit at any moment. "They don't even have to call ahead," Huard said.

Representatives from both homes said that relations with neighbours had never been a problem. "We're always very understanding of our neighbours, since we do operate in a residential area," said Lamy.

Huard and her Lisette Dupras contact person, Lise Prévost, explained that Yvon Lamarre, the head of the Fondation, had never shown any hesitation in personally mediating between neighbours and any homes where there might be a problem.

The Pointe Claire home, Yvon Lamarre's latest acquisition in the West Island, recently filed a tax exemption with the Quebec Municipal Commission. No problems are expected with the demand, said Sévigny.

Former Montreal Executive Committee chair and city councillor Yvon Lamarre founded his Fondation as a non-profit organization in 1983 when he found services for the intellectually deficient severely lacking as he tried to care for his son. Since then, the Fondation has grown to over 36 homes in Montreal, with eight of them in the West Island area.

The Fondation holds around four annual fundraisers. The next one is a supper at the Bella Vista restaurant in Lasalle on November 21.

If you are interested in seeking help for someone at the Fondation, call (514) 364-2282.