Making a Difference
June 23, 2009
The Montreal business community has united to support the fight against mental illness.
On Thursday, May 28, the Fondation de l’Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine held its fourth annual gourmet evening in the World Trade Centre Montreal’s Ruelle des Fortifications. The theme of the event was “Join Us on the Road to Spain.”
Pierre Miron, senior vice-president of enterprise systems and delivery management at the National Bank Financial Group, served as honorary president for the fourth consecutive year, while Jean Guay, senior vice-president of group insurance at Standard Life, performed this role for the first time. Under their leadership, the event helped raise over $72,000.
In their welcoming address, the co-presidents thanked the 264 people in attendance for remaining aware of the realities faced by people with mental health problems and continuing to support them despite the economic situation. Pierre Miron took the opportunity to remind everyone of the persistent prejudices and taboos in our society that hinder the recovery of individuals with mental health disorders. “I invite you all [...] to show your sympathy toward those around you who are suffering terrible anguish by encouraging them to consult someone,” he said. “[...] In so doing, we can help reduce the misery of thousands of people who are battling against illness and who must struggle to have their rights, their value and their dignity recognized.” Jean Guay, for his part, took advantage of the forum to inform the audience why it is necessary to support the cause of mental health. He explained that “disability costs represent between four and 12 percent of salary expenses in Canada. Claims related to mental health have now surpassed those related to cardiovascular disease, becoming Canada’s fastest-rising category of illness costs. It’s vital that we take action!”
As part of the evening, Carole Duclos, a mother who has faced the tragic consequences of mental illness, delivered a moving testimony of her experience and that of her family. Her son Jessie took his own life on January 23, 2007, after struggling with addiction and mental illness for many years. “Drugs tore a member of our family away from us, and we will never be the same. When combined with certain mental health problems, addiction is an insidious, powerful disease, and it’s becoming more common. We have to find a way to stop it before it becomes an epidemic,” said Ms. Duclos. In honour of their son’s memory, Ms. Duclos, her husband Gilles and their daughter Catherine have created the Fonds Jessie Hébert in order to make a tangible contribution to funding for research on addiction and suicide. “Research gives us the hope of finding new treatments and improving interventions and, ultimately, the hope of helping those who are today living through the same anguish that my son Jessie went through,” explained Ms. Duclos.
At the same time, Jessie’s family took advantage of the evening to highlight the work of Stéphane Potvin, a researcher at the Centre de recherche Fernand-Seguin at Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, which is interested in the links between mental illness and addiction. The family awarded him a Jessie Hébert grant worth $10,000 in order to support his work. Following Ms. Duclos’s address, François Castonguay, president of the Fondation de l’Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine’s board of directors and president and CEO of Uniprix, presented the Fonds Jessie Hébert with a $2,500 donation on behalf of his company.
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