Photo: Martin C. Barry • NEWSFIRST
From the left, Jean-François Caron of Imperia Hôtel-Suites Saint-Eustache, Senator Claude
Carignan, Antonio Lavigne board chairman of the CSSS Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, Francis
Charron of EMD Construction, Marc Dubuc of EMD construction, St-Eustache Mayor Pierre
Charron, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles MP Luc Desnoyers, Dr. Éric Moretti of the St-Nicéphore
medical clinic and Éric Paquette of Imperia Hôtel-Suites Saint-Eustache.

The official opening last week of a new assisted-care retirement residence in St-Eustache is the opening phase in the development of a large campus specializing in services for senior citizens. It also marks an instance in which the public sector and private enterprise got together to deliver a much needed service.
First phase
On Nov. 29, officials with Bâtimo and Imperia Hospitalité, which developed the project, were joined by Senator Claude Carignan, St-Eustache Mayor Pierre Charron, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles MP Luc Desnoyers and Antonio Lavigne, chairman of the board of the CSSS Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, to cut the ribbon at the front entrance of the five-storey Les Monarques building which can be seen for a great distance.
Les Monarques is located in the future Carrefour Régional des Générations, which is an initiative established in partnership between the City of Saint-Eustache and the CSSS Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes. The partnership is seen as a model for closer cooperation between private investors and the public health system to provide a higher level of service to health care users.

Former St-Eustache Mayor, now Senator Claude
Carignan said Les Monarques' close proximity
to residential neighborhoods "will allow
grandparents to grow older near their children."

For specific needs
Les Monarques, which is a first phase, can accommodate a total of 98 elderly persons, although there are currently 75. The comfortable residence has been tailored to provide a variety of living services to people with specific needs. Among the services: a day centre, respite services, accommodation for convalescence, permanent residency, and units for persons with cognitive disabilities. A second phase of construction taking place in 2011-2012 will allow 100 more residents to move in.
Claude Carignan, the former mayor of St-Eustache who is now a Conservative senator, said the developers took a large piece of land near Autoroute 640 which didn’t initially look very promising, and converted it into a first rate living environment where people will want to settle.


Close to family
“People who are aging like to be near home and near their family,” he said, noting that Les Monarques is very close to the two largest residential neighborhoods in St-Eustache. “This will allow grandparents to grow older near their children, which is a very humane approach.” An investment like the one that went into developing Les Monarques “is major in a region like St-Eustache,” said Desnoyers.