On March 27, a small group of Pontiac residents gathered inside the Fort-Coulonge municipal library for an information session regarding care giving for seniors.

Hosted by the Connexions Resource Centre, in conjunction with l’Appui Outaouais, the goal of the event was to bring awareness to caregivers throughout the Pontiac about the benefits and challenges of care giving, how to manage the stress that comes with it and what kinds of services are available to them.

Presented by Arnaud de la Salle, project coordinator for the Pontiac Caring Community Initiative, the session consisted of a power point presentation where he outlined what defines one as a caregiver and how the Connexions Resource Centre can benefit them.

With the Pontiac Caring Community Initiative’s two-year mandate ending in 2020, De la Salle says information sessions and seminars are critical in order to inspire more people to volunteer to keep the initiative alive.

“It started in 2018 and will continue until 2020,” he said. “Then we will have a big evaluation with the Appui and they will decide if things are working, if they want to expand, if they want to bring more financial support to it.”

According to de la Salle, Connexions only has three established groups of caregivers in the Pontiac (Chapeau, Campbell’s Bay and Otter Lake) and Bryson is starting a new one with only one person so far.

“At least we have four communities that have a group of beacons,” said de la Salle. “And we’re looking at expanding.”

For people who want to become volunteers or get involved in the initiative, de la Salle says the best option is to reach out to the Connexions Resource Centre by phone or e-mail or to reach out to one of the current volunteers and ask for a referral.

“Go to one of the volunteers that are already trained,” said de la Salle. “Ask them to get referred to me and then I can train them. Then, we can make the number of beacons bigger and spread out throughout the Pontiac. That’s the idea.”

The organization plans on hosting another information session in Otter Lake, in April and hopes to have one around once per month, until July, according to de la Salle.

“The date’s not set yet,” he said. “So, we’ll have maybe before July, like one every month.”

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