We are immensely proud to present our 2024–2025 impact report, covering a year that marked an important milestone for Maison St-Raphaël: our fifth anniversary. Five years of providing support, care and compassion. Five years of building a truly unique space, where humanity guides every action, every decision.
This year, we continued with conviction our mission to provide free and exceptional palliative care to people with incurable illnesses, to support their loved ones and those who are grieving with compassionate respite services, and to actively contribute to innovation and training in our field. Driven by this commitment, our team has implemented several concrete initiatives that demonstrate our desire to expand access to inclusive and adapted care.
Through a series of initiatives marked by recognition, boldness, and pride— ranging from an exhibition honouring our volunteers, to the joyful arrival of therapeutic clowns, to an emotionally resonant tribute campaign—we proudly reaffirmed who we are: a vibrant, open-hearted home deeply rooted in its community. This year was also one of consolidation and innovation. We joined the Maison mobile project, in collaboration with the Greater Montreal Home Care Palliative Care Society, to support people who are homeless or in precarious situations. And, Thanks to the support of valued partners, a long-cherished project—a dedicated symptom management clinic—will soon become a reality. This is a major step forward for individuals living with incurable disease, and a first among Montréal’s palliative care homes.
Amid all these developments, our mission remains unchanged: to provide outstanding palliative care marked by dignity and respect, while welcoming individuals living with illness, and their loved ones, into a warm and supportive environment.
“My partner, Stéphane, was an exceptional person. The room would light up when he walked in! He worked as a researcher and producer in radio. He worked very hard. When he started suffering from severe headaches, I took him to the hospital. The doctor said he was keeping him overnight and eventually discovered a large mass on his brain. It was serious.
Stéphane had a lot of support from oncologists, nursing staff, a psychiatrist, a neurosurgeon… But my daughter, Sandrine, and I didn’t have any special resources. Fortunately, someone told us about Maison St-Raphaël. All three of us benefited from a wide range of services, including massage therapy, acupuncture, art therapy and social work.
It was Sandrine who encouraged me to try art therapy workshops. I realized right away that these workshops would help me express my feelings. It was the first activity Sandrine and I came back to do after Stéphane passed away. I knew that others understood what I was going through. Art was liberating, and it was a way to be with other people, in such a cozy, reassuring environment.”
Beyond the numbers, our impact is measured in the human stories we are fortunate enough to be a part of. Isabelle, for example, found healing through art therapy after the loss of her spouse. Guy, Liliane’s husband, speaks of the serenity with which they were able to live their last moments together, surrounded by kindness. These stories give meaning to our work: accompanying, comforting, listening, and loving, until the very last breath.
As we embark on a new cycle of development with our 2025–2028 strategic plan, we do so with confidence and ambition. Inclusion, accessibility, and innovation will be at the heart of our priorities. Together with you, we will continue to build a world where every person can live out their final days with humanity and dignity.
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