Canadaâs Road Ahead: Stanstead, Que., and a border town divided
Play Segment23:42
Our series Canada s Road Ahead takes us to Stanstead, Que., where the U.S.-Canada border â closed tight during this pandemic â is separating friends and families. We speak with Chris Planetta, a member of the Borderline Players theatre company and the Border Curling Club, about what the border closure has been like for his community. And we hear from Donna Rolfe, assistant director at the Manoir Stanstead retirement home, where staff were so determined to keep people safe from COVID-19 that they moved in with residents for weeks at a time â twice in the past year.
Sidhartha Banerjee
Staff members pose at Manoir Stanstead in Stanstead, Que., in this undated handout photo. Staff at a retirement home east of Montreal are living with their elderly residents to prevent them from being confined to their rooms during Quebec s COVID-19 lockdown. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Stanstead Manoir, MANDATORY CREDIT January 30, 2021 - 1:00 AM
MONTREAL - Staff at a retirement home east of Montreal are living with their elderly residents to prevent them from being confined to their rooms during Quebec s COVID-19 lockdown.
It s the second time since the beginning of the pandemic that employees at Manoir Stanstead have locked down with residents.
Since Jan. 9, Quebecers have been under tight restrictions that include a nightly provincewide curfew and the closure of all non-essential businesses. Dining rooms at all long-term care homes and private seniors residences are also closed. For Donna Rolfe, closing the dining area and keeping residents locked in their rooms at her facility is unacceptable. Instead, to ensure residents aren t isolated, she and her colleagues decided to shut themselves in the private care home located about 160 kilometres east of Montreal. They would have had to stay in their room, and we just don t think that s human to just stay in four walls, Rolfe, assistant director at the residence, said in a recent interview. By locking in, we re still respecting the mask and the six feet, but at least they can come in the dining room to eat two at a table, six feet apart, and still have a little bit of communication with other people.
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To keep COVID-19 out in the Spring, the staff moved in for a month. This time around, the decision came after the province announced seniors' homes should serve meals in individual rooms instead of the dining hall.