MONTREAL—The men’s suit business fits like a glove for Leo Grunstein. He helps operate Boutique Jacques on Cote-des-Neiges Rd.
Grunstein had to take over when the entrepreneur behind the business, his 90-year-old dad, saw his health begin to fail.
“My father was diagnosed in 2006 and he stayed home, he'd come into the business with us for a couple of years,” said Grunstein. But it wasn't the same because his father had Alzheimer’s disease.
“It's a 24/7 type of situation and we had to lighten the load for my mother,” said Grunstein.
So they found a place where their father Jacques could be himself; at the Jewish Eldercare Day Centre on Victoria Ave. The building also houses a nursing home.
“The staff are just wonderful people, they love the patients that come into the centre, they treat them like family,” said Grunstein.
But now the centre is slated to close, perhaps sometime this fall.
“We have some financial issues and we as a board of directors try and look at the best way to resolve these issues and our main mission here is to take care of 320 residents who live here and we're certainly not about to cut any services to the people who live here,” said Barbra Gold, speaking for the centre.
The big question of course is what will happen to all the people once the eldercare centre closes. The centre says it's been speaking with all its partners like Cummings House on Cote-Ste-Catherine St. and it hopes it will be able to find spaces around the city for everyone.
That doesn't completely reassure Grunstein though.
“My father is Jewish Orthodox and a holocaust survivor and that package, especially with the Holocaust issues, changes somebody. Somebody who's suffered the effects of the Holocaust is always frightened by what's coming, what awaits them,” said Grunstein.
The centre insists it won't close until everyone finds a suitable placement. It will be an anxious wait.
