The day after our meeting, Tanya Tremblay was to finish filming DRAG, the third feature film by Sophie Dupuis, which stars Théodore Pellerin. “It will be a great movie,” she announces. But like every Monday of the week, it is not actors and actresses who follow one another on the dressing table chair, but rather sick people and their caregivers.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
“It’s going to be beautiful with your face shape. I can’t believe your hair didn’t curl before.
— With chemo, the texture of the hair changes,” says the lady whom Tanya Tremblay gently helps to get up.
“A little touch and it works magic,” says the freshly haired woman.
Tanya Tremblay is a trained nurse. This is very useful to her in the performance of her duties, but it is as a hairdresser that she works at the St-Raphaël house.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Tanya Tremblay is a trained nurse.
She cuts hair in the new beauty salon on the ground floor of the Outremont palliative care centre. She can also go into the rooms of patients who are too weak to move around. “I even did a dye in a room recently for a lady who really liked it. »
The beauty salon was able to open thanks to a donation of $25,000 from Lise Watier. “We offer cuts and styling. And soon, we will be offering manicures,” explains Véronique Després, director of the organization’s multidisciplinary services.
If the St-Raphaël house can count on the services of Tanya Tremblay, it is thanks to one of her friends who thought of her when she saw a post on social networks by Gabriel Julien, winner ofDouble occupancy 2007. He founded the non-profit organization Coups de Pinceaux Coups de Ciseaux, whose mission is to provide haircuts to people in need. He circulated a message so that the St-Raphaël house finds a volunteer hairdresser.
“I was an auxiliary nurse for eight years, notably in palliative care, and at the request of my father, I was his end-of-life nurse. It was a big ordeal that led to a lot of questioning,” says Tanya Tremblay.
Her return to work was too emotional, so she wanted to explore an interest in hair styling that she already had.
What I loved most about my job as a nurse was spoiling patients. And in hairdressing, that’s what I do.
Tanya Tremblay
It was five years ago. Tanya Tremblay already had experience, but she insisted on taking the training required to become a hairdresser. Quickly, she began to work on film sets (including the series The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up by Xavier Dolan) or for the Cirque du Soleil.
His involvement at the St-Raphaël house? “It goes beyond the hairstyle,” she explains.
A man said to her recently, “You don’t understand the importance of what you are doing for us. I have always been proud of my appearance. You, you give me this until the end. »
Tanya Tremblay’s hair care brings comfort, dignity and respite to the sick. “A head massage feels good! “, she says.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
The St-Raphaël palliative care home, housed in a former church
Unique treatments
Maison St-Raphaël, an NPO that has existed since the fall of 2019, is housed in a former church on Deacon Street, in Outremont. There are 12 private rooms for palliative care patients. There are approximately 50 employees and 70 volunteers.
It is one of the few establishments in Quebec – and the only one in Montreal – to also offer a day center for people with an incurable disease. There is the Michel-Sarrazin house, in Quebec, and the Victor-Gadbois house, in Beloeil.
“We also offer services to loved ones and the bereaved,” says Véronique Després, director of multidisciplinary services for the organization.
The latter insists on the importance of having “early palliative care”. “We see that people can stay at home longer in collaboration with CLSC home care. »
In addition to hairdressing, Maison St-Raphaël offers massage therapy, acupuncture, zootherapy and music therapy services. “Feeling good about yourself brings a certain normality,” says Véronique Després, who is a social worker by training.
A great relief
When we arrived at the St-Raphaël house, Michel Dufour was coming out of the hairdressing salon. “I am a caregiver. I have been here with my mother since February 10. When I arrived, I was offered a bed and my mother wanted me to stay with her,” he told us.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Michel Dufour used hairdressing services, but also massage therapy.
Her 91-year-old mother has advanced cancer. “She is too weak to be at home. And here she is comforted in her pain. »
His son is privileged to be able to devote himself fully to his task as a caregiver thanks to the services of the Maison St-Raphaël.
The food is good, the staff is attentive. It’s really good. The atmosphere is really more relaxed than in the hospital.
Michel Dufour, caregiver
“In fact, I’m a bit like staying at a hotel,” he adds. I have no dishes to prepare and dishes to do. »
Michel Dufour used hairdressing services, but also massage therapy.
“For patients, it’s a great relief to know that their caregivers are being taken care of,” says Véronique Després.
One thing is certain, Tanya Tremblay would have liked to be able to count on a center like the St-Raphaël house when she accompanied her father in the illness. “You feel helpless and it’s exhausting. »
A haircut is a time out and a way to take care of yourself. And that’s what she offers every Monday to the sick and caregivers of the St-Raphaël home.