The good-natured atmosphere of this 21e food drive of the Fondation Dr Julien, on Saturday, contrasted with the words of its worried founder at the end of a third week of teachers’ strike in Montreal which he describes as “dramatic” for the children.
On the basketball court at Oliva-Pelletier Park, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, transformed into a boot hockey field for the occasion, around twenty young people compete for the ball.
The game takes place under the encouragement of dozens of parents, gathered around, hot chocolates and coffee in hand: one of the many activities organized near one of the 46 collection points spread across the province.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Dr Gilles Julien
On the sidelines of the game, while the choir prepares, the Dr Gilles Julien, however, paints a dark portrait of the situation for several vulnerable children who are cared for by community social pediatrics centers (CPSC) affiliated with his foundation.
“The pandemic has entered everyone, even adults, and there we find ourselves with a school strike which is dramatic for many of these children who have lacked resources, plenty of things, and who have not yet managed to get out of that,” he laments.
We bring back another signal from society that perhaps they are not as important as that.
Gilles Julien, spokesperson and founder of Fondation Dr Julian
School, an essential service
Moreover, the Dr Gilles Julien has difficulty explaining why school is not considered an essential service, which would force school service centers to keep them open, at least partially. “You don’t close the school, you keep a few significant people, in the gymnasium, in the library, a section of teachers who distribute books to the children,” he suggests.
The doctor is also concerned about the safety of some children left to fend for themselves at home due to lack of resources or contact from their parents. “There are some who tell me that they spend 12 hours a day on screens. Where are we going? », he sighs.
And the Dr Gilles Julien knows something about this, while the vast annual collection of the foundation in his name allows the CPSCs affiliated with it to collect funds in order to finance their missions: helping vulnerable children.
“Social pediatrics is about collecting children who escape the system and live in toxic environments or great vulnerabilities and banking on our bond with this child to develop their children, encourage them to go to school, do not not consume,” explains the Dr Julian.
Growing needs
The care provided by these centers includes medical, legal, psychosocial, psychoeducational and educational follow-ups as well as innovative therapies (art therapy, occupational therapy and music therapy) and specialized services (speech therapy, psychology, child psychiatry and neuropsychology).
However, the needs are growing, he affirms, and this, “with resources that are less and less there”. The Dr Julien cites the mental health sector in particular as being particularly lacking.
For example, young people who are referred to certain hospitals by CPSCs for suicidal attempts are returned to them due to a lack of resources to take care of them, he reveals.
“We find ourselves compensating, in some way, for what we wouldn’t want to do. We would like them to come see us and then return them to the system, but there is so little accessibility,” he laments.
The D Foundationr Julien says he helps nearly 12,000 disadvantaged children across Quebec each year.