This text is part of the special section Philanthropy
Administrator of the Saint-Eustache Hospital Foundation since 2009, and President since last year, Mr.and Pierre G. Mayer is not idle to bring in money and transform it into projects and achievements. One of his greatest satisfactions? The opening, in 2016, of the external renal dialysis center, then the Alain Germain cancer center in 2017.
The arrival of M.and Pierre G. Mayer on the Board of Directors of the Saint-Eustache Hospital Foundation is no coincidence. Two years earlier, his 34-year-old brother died of cancer, a difficult time that saw him frequent both hospitals and courthouses, seeing the healthcare system and the extraordinary dedication of the people who work there. When he was approached to become administrator of the Foundation, the decision was self-evident.
Last year, after the departure of Jacques Pelletier, who was its president for a long time, Pierre G. Mayer was the obvious choice to replace him, bringing significant stability, as well as his experience as a lawyer for almost 30 years, guardian also of the history of the Foundation. She does not twiddle her thumbs and has loosened her purse strings for projects that have transformed the face of health care in the Lower Laurentians.
Indeed, if the hospital center serves a population of approximately 300,000 people, before 2016, people suffering from cancer or kidney problems had no choice but to go mainly to Montreal for treatment. Result: tens of kilometers to cover after often trying treatments, and even more when returning home was in the middle of traffic jams.
“Former Minister of Health Gaétan Barrette was sure we were joking when we told him about the situation,” recalls Ms.and Mayer. The norm is that any hospital with 250 beds or more [Saint-Eustache en compte en ce moment 349] be provided with an oncology department. If we could, on the side of the Foundation, provide a building and equipment, the ex-minister promised that he would free up the necessary budgets to have the staff and render the services. For the Foundation, it was therefore necessary to meet expectations.
In 2015, it then embarked on an ambitious fundraising campaign, the fifth in its history, one of those that strike the imagination. After the purchase, in 2013, of land near the hospital worth $1,029,000, all hopes were high in order to raise the sum of $5 million and that the long-awaited services thus become a reality.
The importance of the bequest
Before his death, Alain Germain, professor, marketing consultant and business manager, had planned a bequest to a health establishment that met a certain number of criteria. The task of selecting one fell to his widow, Mrs.me Danielle Martin, and the Saint-Eustache Hospital Foundation was the lucky winner. With the key a sum of 3.225 million.
“We could very well not have received this gift, recognizes Pierre G. Mayer. We presented the project to her, she accepted it, which made it the most important donation in our history. »
A gift from heaven? Not quite. “In the early 2010s, training was offered to professionals in the Basses-Laurentides region to make them aware of bequests. This approach has borne fruit, particularly with several notaries, who have spoken to their clients about it, while informing them of the existence of our Foundation. »
This is what made 2016 a pivotal year, both for the Hospital and for the Foundation. On land acquired in 2013, the Desjardins health center was built and, a few months apart, the external renal dialysis center and the Alain Germain cancer center opened their doors. In 2021, staff treated more than 14,000 patients in hematology-oncology, and more than 17,000 in renal dialysis.
Pierre G. Mayer still cultivates great ambitions for the Foundation, and recognizes that this substantial donation is a jewel in his career as an administrator. Successes of this kind, he wishes others, quoting the famous line from the film The field of dreams : “If you build it, they will come. »