A group of West Island restaurants and families are doing what they can to make life a little less stressful for medical staff at the Lakeshore Hospital in Pointe Claire.
The operation is called Act of Love and it’s being coordinated by Lovie Rivard, who has been doing it for more than a month.
She said she wants to give the medical staff at the hospital a break and to thank them for their work treating COVID-19 patients.
“It’s my pleasure to do this,” she told Global News.
“We need to support the frontliners!”
Rivard said the idea came to her on Good Friday when she saw the Facebook post of a nurse who works at the hospital.
“Saying, ‘can you please send us food,'” Rivard explained quoting the post. “We’re overworked and we have no time to go to the cafeteria.”
That’s when she said reached out to the community for help, and within an hour of posting her plea, she said she was flooded with responses.
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“They didn’t call the hospital,” she laughed. “They called me and they said we’re ready to donate food, can you help us. And this is restaurants!”
According to her, families also reached out and since then more than 30 businesses and families have been donating meals daily. She pointed out that every day, up to 50 health-care workers on two COVID-19 units at the hospital get hot meals delivered thanks to her.
“It could be Indian, it could be Greek, it could be Chinese food, pizza even, or soup,” exclaimed head nurse Shirley Gesse in front of the hospital.
Whatever Lovie and her team delivers, it’s always appreciated by the team.
Jimmy Chan, the owner of the Wok Café Restaurants, one of the businesses supplying food, stressed that the medical staff needs help and that’s why he decided to pitch in.
“They are separated from their family and many of them they don’t even have time to eat,” he noted
Rivard agrees.
“The nurses don’t have to go home and prepare food and of course they can get food from the cafeteria, but come on, who likes cafeteria food?” she laughed.
Gesse pointed out that the food deliveries boost morale among her staff who she said are often under a great deal of stress and need support. She said she tries to be there for them by listening, but the deliveries help to encourage them
Rivard hopes to do even more in the coming weeks when she’s stronger. Right now she’s convalescing and can’t be on her feet for long.
“I recently had surgery,” she smiled, “and I have six weeks of recovery.”
Until she recovers fully, Rivard vows to keep doing the work from her bed.
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