Quebec, Laval, others on board with financial commitments towards children’s health
The Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval is undertaking a major expansion of the children’s healthcare services it has offered to needy families in Laval for years.
After two years of careful planning, officials with the centre plan to open new “Espaces Bienveillance” points of service in Chomedey and Pont-Viau, with help from the provincial government, the City of Laval, several non-profit and corporate donors and the Mouvement Desjardins.
Promoting children’s needs
The Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval is a non-profit organization that provides activities and care to children in the community. The centre contributes to the overall development of children and adolescents with developmental, social or health problems in disadvantaged areas.
The centre also promotes the interests and rights of children and their families. Its mandate is to offer, within a living environment integrated into the community, interdisciplinary health services to a vulnerable clientele that finds itself sometimes excluded from the current service network.
Officials at the centre have decided to strategically refocus services within Chomedey and Pont-Viau, both of which are areas where a need for social services for at-risk children has been growing in recent years. The plan calls for new points of service to be opened in both districts. The centre de pédiatrie currently has offices at École primaire St-Paul in Chomedey, although they have outgrown the space.
Chomedey locale opens in August
Beginning last December, the Centre de pédiatrie’s board and management began exploring options for relocation. This month, they are analyzing their findings and will be choosing a location for the Chomedey point of service. In May, they’ll be conducting whatever renovations will be necessary, and in August they’ll be moving in.
At the end of this year, they’ll be planning similar actions for the new Pont-Viau point of service, and hope to move in by May 2025. With that said, the Centre de pédiatrie sociale de Laval hopes to be able to increase its case charge so that 600 active dossiers can be dealt with at any given time eventually.
It was perhaps a measure of the growing importance of the Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval that a good number of elected officials from the Legault government, the City of Laval, Mouvement Desjardins, the Fondation Dr Julien and the Fondation Choquette-Legault accepted an invitation to attend the official launch for the expansion program last Monday morning at Laval city hall.
Quebec, Laval on board
The provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is supporting the expansion with $390,000 in funding, while the City of Laval’s Municipal Office for Housing is providing the centre with $47,314 and city-owned locales rent-free.
The Fonds du Grand Mouvement Desjardins (the Quebec-based financial services and credit union cooperative has a long history of social commitment) is providing $211,000. The Fondation Dr Julien has pledged $31,250, while the Fondation Choquette-Legault is promising $100,000. Laval-based SMT Hautes Technologies, which deals in circuit electronics manufacturing and assembly, is in for $100,000.
A ‘major pillar,’ says Boyer
“The Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval is a major pillar in the creation of an environment conducive to the development of thousands of children, especially those finding themselves in precarious circumstances and at risk of falling between the cracks,” said Mayor Stéphane Boyer.
“It gives me great pleasure to be able to reaffirm the support of our government towards the Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval,” said Sainte-Rose CAQ MNA Christopher Skeete, who is the Minister Responsible for the Laval Region in the Legault cabinet. “They are a key player for families in Laval and I feel certain that the realization of the Espaces Bienveillance project will produce positive results for many children,” he said.
