About the Foundation

Dr. Maurice-Bertrand was the first physician in Quebec to provide palliative home care. The Fondation Docteur Maurice-Bertrand was created in his honor in 1980 to provide financial support for home palliative care offered by the Association d’Entraide Ville-Marie, now known as the Société de soins palliatifs à domicile du Grand Montréal.

Maurice Bertrand was a general practitioner who believed in hospital services, of course … and in residential services too, but he was also convinced that we needed to develop diversified homecare services to meet diverse needs and make them accessible to the entire population. Throughout his life, Maurice Bertrand was an active man in his community, defending his ideas, carrying out projects consistent with his convictions and practicing his profession as a physician, including palliative and end-of-life care at home.

• The number of patients cared for by the Société de soins palliatifs à domicile has increased by 25% in 4 years;
• Nearly 35% of patients live alone, requiring more care and services to remain at home until the end;
• 80% of patients are aged 65 and over, making them more vulnerable physically, economically and sometimes mentally;
• On average, 75% of patients cared for by SSPAD remain at home until the end, compared with the Quebec average of 15%;
• In 2021, 77% of patients cared for by SSPAD died at home or after a short hospital stay of 3 days or less;
• Our clinical approach is one of the most effective in Quebec;
• Our unique intervention model gives us the flexibility to respond quickly and appropriately to the needs of patients and their families, at the lowest cost in Quebec, thanks in part to the existence of the Foundation.

To enable anyone suffering from an advanced, incurable illness to remain at home for as long as possible, close to their loved ones, and to die there if they so wish, by offering them all the care, services and support required by their condition. To enable caregivers who want to keep a person with the above condition at home, to obtain the help, support, training and information they need to accompany this person in palliative care and at the end of life, with complete peace of mind.

The mission of the SSPAD Foundation is to raise and administer funds in support of the Société de soins palliatifs à domicile du Grand Montréal (SSPAD).

The Foundation aims to be the benchmark for private financial support of the best palliative home care, so that it becomes more accessible to all who need it.

“Over the past four decades, the Fondation de la Société de soins palliatifs à domicile (FSSPAD) has never deviated from its mission: to raise and administer funds to support the Société de soins palliatifs à domicile du Grand Montréal (SSPAD), which celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2018-2019.

The SSPAD is the largest home palliative care philanthropic organization in Quebec. Since 1980, thanks to the generosity of its directors and donors, more than $20 million has been granted to SSPAD. In return, SSPAD supports the largest number of palliative care patients in Montreal each year.

Our healthcare system faces the challenge of coping with an aging population increasingly affected by chronic illness. We are grateful to our partners, who understand the importance of the collective project implemented by SSPAD. Not only does palliative care at home alleviate the suffering of people at the end of life and their loved ones, it also reduces the need for emergency care and hospitalization.

The decisions we make today about financial support will determine the comfort and quality of life of our loved ones when the time comes.

Thank you for supporting us!”