This text is part of the special Philanthropy section
The virus that caused the current pandemic has taken humanity by surprise. First, it was unknown and was spreading at breakneck speed. To thwart it, it was necessary to be able to act quickly, which was done with the vaccines. Other initiatives, as rapid but more humble, have also collaborated in this collective effort. This is the case with researchers at the Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) at McGill University.
Thanks to a large donation from the Doggone Foundation, MI4 researchers were able to act as soon as the virus arrived on Quebec soil. Guillaume Bourque, professor of human genetics and associate at MI4, was one of these. “From the first cases of COVID-19, we realized that some patients were moderately sick while others were really very sick,” he says. How to explain this difference and, above all, could it be predicted?
“My research project consisted of analyzing patients’ blood cells in order to find a signature associated with the most seriously ill patients. We have indeed found this signature in the immune cells of patients. This discovery has enabled doctors to better adapt their treatments.
Making sense of data
“Initially, explains Mathieu Maheu-Giroux, epidemiologist and researcher associated with MI4, we had no COVID-19 surveillance system. How to determine the rate of reproduction or spread? How to predict the effect of variants? Everything had to be built. “
Data did exist, but collected in bulk, here and there. “First,” he continues, “we had to develop a methodology to process and organize the data we had. Then, as a second step, we developed a modeling system that allowed us to anticipate the evolution of the pandemic on Quebec soil. The money from philanthropy allowed us to quickly start the research project and also to set up a communication team in order to share our results with the authorities concerned, such as the INSPQ and INESSS. “
Support psychosocial workers
Delphine Collin-Vézina, professor and researcher at the School of Social Sciences, also benefited from the philanthropic generosity of the Doggone Foundation. “At the start of the pandemic, we immediately faced a concern. The government, with good reason, was imposing isolation measures in order to contain the spread of the virus. But how would young people in difficulty react, often living in problematic environments? And how were psychosocial workers going to continue to support this vulnerable population? “
She gives as an example the work of a DPJ worker: “When a DPJ worker approaches a young person and his family, he does it in person. But the pandemic prohibited this contact, and interviews had to be done by phone. Our first gesture was to set up a telephone interview protocol in order to support the interveners. This first action led to the idea of setting up a directory, which has now become a web portal, of psychosocial resources and best practices.
The Doggone Foundation
If these various projects related to the pandemic were able to see the light of day so quickly, it is thanks to the donation of 15 million that the Doggone Foundation made to the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity.
Today administered by Paul Marchand, a Montreal lawyer with a career in estate and trust management, the Foundation was created in 2011 by Mr.me Elspeth McConnell. “She was born into a modest family and worked as a journalist at Montreal Star, says Paul Marchand. It was there that she met her husband, John Wilson McDonnell, then owner and publisher of the newspaper. During their married life, the couple accumulated a certain fortune. “
But Elspeth McConnell becomes a widow at 48. It is at this moment that Paul Marchand, through common knowledge, meets him and offers him his help. She wants her estate to become a foundation. She then made donations in several areas, including mental health, the arts, and medical research.
And why the name Doggone, for the foundation? “It’s a joke on his part,” says Marchand. When Elspeth breaks house to live in a retirement home, she cannot bring her dogs there. The dogs are gone, she told me. The foundation will be called Doggone. “
Mme Elspeth McConnel died in 2017. The donation to McGill University was made in 2018, before the pandemic, to help shore up MI4. When the pandemic arrived, it was MI4 researchers who chose to allocate certain sums from the Doggone donation to research to counter COVID.