Pierrefonds resident leads AIDS hospice

In 1993, a member of Nash’s circle of friends became very sick with AIDS. While they tried to get their friend into the Maison d’Hérelle, a hospice on St. Hubert Street in Montreal founded in 1989 that provides care for people with AIDS who can no longer look after themselves, the group was told there weren’t enough beds.

“There was no room for our friend,” Nash said. “I got very annoyed. In fact, I got angry.”

Despite raising $60,000 for the Maison d’Hérelle’s plan to buy an adjacent building through a calendar campaign he and his photographer friends put together, Nash said no progress was made.

“Nothing had moved. So I got angry again,” Nash said. “The director general said, why don’t you come aboard to help make things work?”

And he did. Nash joined the Maison d’Hérelle’s board of directors in 1994 and used his experience from years as a businessman in the technology industry to coach the staff in management and move major projects along. In 1995, the Maison d’Hérelle bought a second building and expanded its capacity from 11 to 17 beds, making it the largest AIDS hospice in Canada.

Since 2001, Nash has been the president and chairman of the Maison d’Hérelle board of directors, and says there has not been a dull moment since; 2007, especially, was a whirlwind of a year. In February, Maison d’Hérelle opened a second facility in Côte des Neiges, which can accommodate six recovering residents. The facility’s goal is to help them rediscover how to care for themselves, step by step.

In November, it was discovered the front of the building on St. Hubert Street was basically falling down and needed extensive repairs

“That turned out to be a $400,000 expense,” Nash said. While such an incident can cause many organizations to run into the reds, the Maison d’Hérelle was able to stick to its $900,000 budget without running a deficit. As a matter of fact, there was a surplus.

“Actually, I just handed that out as benefits,” Nash said proudly, adding the six residents who had to be relocated to other facilities during the construction moved back in to the Maison d’Hérelle three weeks ago.

Construction on affordable housing for Maison d’Hérelle “graduates” also wrapped up at the end of December. The supervised facility in Montreal’s east end has 15 studio apartments for residents who can care for themselves again, offering a place where they can take control of their lives and take control of the disease.

“Maison d’Hérelle used to be a dead end. You went there to die,” Nash said. “Now it’s something completely different. There’s a way out.”

However, Nash pointed out there is a lot of misinformation about AIDS out there, and that people need to remember how serious the disease is.

“People seem to think, oh, there are pills now. No problem,” he said. “They don’t realize there’s no cure for this and everyone who gets this dies.”

Nash, who moved to Pierrefonds with his family last summer and is the executive vice-president with electronics contract manufacturer Digico Réseau Global, says it is his keen business sense that has helped him move Maison d’Hérelle so far along in the last 15 years. But, according to childhood friend and New Democratic Party MP Thomas Mulcair, there is a lot more to him.

“He’s and incredible guy and his heart’s in the right place. It’s fun to see a senior businessman giving so much of his own time,” Mulcair said. When asked if his friend might be making the jump to politics in the future, Mulcair said: “I know the NDP hasn’t decided to run a candidate in the (Pierrefonds-Dollard) area yet, but it’s putting an idea in my head.”

While he did admit the topic has come up in talks with friends a number of times, Nash said, with everything else he is currently involved with, politics is not in his plan at the moment.

“My head’s not there yet,” he said. “Only time will tell.”