Manoire Montefiore, the upscale and beautifully maintained seniors residence located at the corner of Cavendish Boulevard and Mackle Road, will be shutting down. As the city councillor in the district I received the sad news today by phone.
Officials from Réseau Selection, the present-day owners of the facility, made the difficult decision recently. Staff were told today. There will be no imminent changes. In fact they will proceed with the closure over an 18 month period during which time they will work with residents and their families to find new homes. Some will likely relocate to Le Waldorf on Côte Saint-Luc Road, which is also under the Réseau Selection umbrella and run in excellent manner by Michael Goldwax,
There are only 65 units occupied at the Montefiore at this time and the average is 90. This means they are operating at about 50 percent capacity. The building will eventually up for sale. Réseau Selection officials do not expect it to remain as a seniors care facility, but rather revert to a condominium or rental. Someone will truly inherit a gorgeous and sprawling facility.
Manoire Montefiore opened in 1989. I remember attending the groundbreaking. Rick Leckner`s firm was doing the publicity and Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko made a blessing.
Correction…..opened in 1988.
Not likely these victimized residents will move to Le Waldorf. Wow, Reseau Selection has already started their marketing via the call to you. How sad that this previously highly successful retirement home has been run into the ground. Amazing front line workers will be jobless, and the vulnerable elderly uprooted. Shame on the management.
I worked as executive director for 12years between 1997 and 2009.We worked as a caring team.I tried to extend “the human touch” to managing a budget and running the operations of a business that at one time had over 200 full time and part time employees.The deeply caring ,late Rabbi Schecter, started and managed the synagogue with heart and soul, . Ellen Tissenbaum R.N who looked after all the residents care needs , as if they were all her own parents. The dedicated staff who endured along with the residents, an ice storm with ,a 2 day hydro outage woring only on a generator and a massive renovation of the total building, along with the various demands of 4 different owners and corporations ove the years.We had to pay attention to quality care, resident and family satisfaction,and the financial bottom line. We did so successfuly as was indicated by close to 100% occupancy and substantial gross profits.Unfortunately, over the years , owners began to focus more on the real estate than on the unique needs of this community .Although it is 6.5 years that I am no longer there, I feel a sense of loss for the residents , their families and the extraordinary staff who once made this building a successful home.
Howard Modlin M.A.(C.Psych)Psychotherapist (OPQ 61072-15)
Howard, your comments are so true. When you and Ellen were at the Montefiore, residents and families received excellent personalized care. There were times when I brought clients to Montefiore only to discover that there was a waiting list. Closing a seniors residence is very sad news, fragile seniors forced to move out of their homes. There is a lack of English speaking residences in the city that specialize in providing care services. The suggestion that these residents, who need more care could move to Castel Royale or king David makes no sense. This would be a parallel move. We know that seniors are staying home longer and needing more care when they move. Why doesn’t the Montefiore adapt their residence to the needs of their population and provide more care. I assist in relocating seniors, who would prefer to stay in the city , to the west island where anglophone residences provide a higher level of care. Many residences are adding care floors in order to accommodate the needs of their residents. Very sad that the Montefiore can’t do the same. I’m hoping that someone will step in and convert this residence into a care facility, which is badly needed in this area. We have enough condos and apartment buildings, we need to provide services for our elderly population. When I was given the mandate to relocate residents of the Griffith McConnell when it shut its doors a few years ago, a few seniors relocated to the Montefiore. I’m wondering if they are facing a second forced move
Bonnie Sandler, BSW, geriatric consultant, columnist for a The Senior Times