Free of COVID-19: How a Lachine retirement home is keeping the coronavirus out

Les Brises, a seniors’ residence in Lachine, is trying to do things differently.

It has more than 170 autonomous residents living in the residence and recently implemented new rules in an effort to protect them during the coronavirus pandemic.

Les Brises is taking steps to limit what goes into the facility.

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The home has been catering lunches and dinners seven days a week to all residents, free of charge. It has also hired the same sub-contractors for cleaning and catering to limit the number of people going in and out.

“Everybody is being checked,” Blanchet said. “Every day their temperature, mainly, and if they have a feeling, maybe a little cough, they’re not getting in.”

Guy Lacoste, a 75-year-old resident, said he’s happy with everything the residence is doing — though he is still nervous about CLSC staff who visit the facility.

“We feel quite secure but we still have in the background a worry about people from the CLSC that go to other buildings, deal with people affected, and they come here after,” he said. “Even if they’re tested, their temperature, when they come in, they wash their hands, there’s still a fear that they might carry this on their clothes and stuff.”

The residence’s administration says it also concerned about this issue but has been reassured by the local public health authority that a solution is in the works.

For now, residents like Lacoste are just crossing their fingers, hoping their building stays free of the virus.

“We’re anxious to see the end of it,” he said. “People are walking in the backyard. We have a beautiful backyard, but there’s a limit to what the people can take.”