YMCA Women of Distinction Award 1998 / Nomination Hélène Rumak / Health division
NOMINATION – 1998
YMCA Women of Distinction Award 1998 / Nomination Hélène Rumak / Health division
Hélène Rumak
Helene Rumak is a generous and dedicated woman whose words and actions are guided by three fundamental values:” le beau,le bien et le vrai”.Through her efforts she strives to increase awareness about the rights of society’s most disadvantaged individuals. After she completed her studies, she began teaching Italian immigrants with the Montreal Catholic School Board. She went on to work with juvenile delinquents. the socially disaffected and the physically challenged, becoming the first person at the MCSB to make possible the integration of severely handicapped young adults into the mainstream. In 1989, she took in a young woman stricken with Friedreich’s ataxia and cared for her with love compassion, most importantly, dignity, until this young woman’s death eight years later. Shortly after this experience, she co-founded Handicap-Vie-Dignité to make sure that every person is treated with dignity – regardless of any limitations he or she may possess. As head of this organization, Hélène Rumak continues her work to improve the life of the severely handicapped, the elderly and others who are vulnerable to social injustice.
