Written by Anna Chumbe
Anne-Claude, who retired from her career as a pediatrician after dedicating forty-nine years to its practice, started volunteering at Maison St-Raphaël a year ago, for the same reason she entered medicine: to take care of people. Despite being officially retired from her medical career, she remains active by teaching a few courses at the University of Montreal, but although she loves teaching, caring for people and serving them in their physical and emotional need remains her greatest love.
She serves in a number of capacities at Maison St-Raphaël. On Wednesday mornings, for example, you will find her helping out in the kitchen or the laundry room. But if there is someone missing to help out in the afternoon, she will often stay on and lend a hand at reception. She enjoys talking to and welcoming people at the reception desk, but she also loves to be in the action of the kitchen. When talking to Anne Claude, one feels that she really understands and takes our organization’s mission to heart. During the initial waves of the pandemic, she was deeply moved at seeing people die in isolation and from “lack of care.” Maison St-Raphaël, for her, provides something that hospitals can’t. She notes with happiness that there are people who say, “My dad eats now,” and takes pleasure in the simplest act of service, such as preparing a cup of coffee or a dessert.
An open and gifted conversationalist, Anne-Claude puts one instantly at ease. “We are all friends here,” she says. When talking with her, one feels a warmth and a kindness running under her words. She transmits a feeling of certainty that you can depend on her. “One feels appreciated at Maison St-Raphaël,” she says, and it certainly true that she reciprocates the feeling.
When she is not volunteering with us, Anne-Claude can be found at her Thursday choir practice at Sainte Justine,* taking a long walk, or upcycling old clothes. Some she transforms into something else, like face cloths. Others, like old coats, she likes to embroider. Anne Claude takes pleasure in simple, everyday things: a photo, a letter she has received. She loves to take walks, and to read historical novels and “books about people.” She has read a lot on the subject of death, but she particularly recommends Patrick Vinay’s Conversations à marée basse, a book containing the testimonies of volunteers and caretakers who work with the sick. It is a book written in short chapters, to be read slowly, she recommends, taking the time to reflect.
Anne-Claude also loves nature. As often as not, she is away in the countryside on the weekends. Whenever there is a change of plans, however, the first thing she does is to check the volunteer schedule to see when she can come in to help. “Coming here is good for my soul,” she says, “I am very attached to it.” She sees volunteering here as the natural continuation of her years in medicine. That’s why Maison St-Raphaël exists, according to Anne Claude: to provide real, compassionate love. If you are still wondering, this is what she does at Maison St-Raphaël’s.
