By Neil Armstrong
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| Photo contributed Camille Isaacs-Morell, executive director of the Alzheimer Society of Montreal |
Camille Isaacs-Morell, the newly appointed executive
director of the Alzheimer Society of Montreal, is currently looking at
alternative ways of raising funds for the organization.
As a not-for-profit organization, the Society is entirely
funded by subventions and funds raised.
She says the corporate sector is highly solicited right now
and it’s very difficult “to raise funds the way we’ve traditionally done in the
past through big events and golf tournaments and galas.”
“We have to raise money from the community -- these are
small donors and people with small businesses -- and we welcome all of that but
we do need large sums of money,” says Isaacs-Morell who migrated to Montreal
from Kingston, Jamaica in 1993.
She will guide the organization to meet the demand for
services that will grow commensurately with the projected increase in diagnoses
of Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases.
The graduate of Immaculate Conception High School and holder
of a BA in Language and Linguistics from the University of the West Indies says
there is going to be a 66% increase in the number of persons diagnosed with
Alzheimer, that’s nearly 900 to a million people across Canada having some form
of dementia in less than 15 years.
“It’s really going to be a big crisis for our health system
here in Canada, so that’s one thing. It’s not getting better and it’s not going
away. We still haven’t found a cure and until we find a cure we have to provide
services for the people with Alzheimer, as well as their caregivers, and
support the health professionals in the work that they do.”
Isaacs-Morell was born and raised in Kingston, and after her
postsecondary studies she worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade for eight years.
She then did an MBA in International Business and Marketing
at the University of Miami at a time when she realized that international
relations were going to be more driven by the private sector than by
government.
Isaacs-Morell went back to Jamaica for a year and then
migrated to Montreal.
After working for 20 years in the field of marketing, she
felt that she had topped out in her career and wanted to do something different
thus accepting the appointment as assistant executive director of the Alzheimer
Society of Montreal last year
Isaacs-Morell was the director of corporate branding at
Standard Life Company for its Canadian operations, this was before they sold
out and left. She ran marketing campaigns and increased sales and brand awareness.
She did some freelance consulting for a while in between
jobs because her position was cut at Standard Life. She was also senior
advisor, corporate and content marketing at McKesson Canada.
The marketing expert found that she had a lot to give and
also that “as a senior career professional approaching middle age people are
not as willing to hire very experienced persons and pay them that salary.”
Her involvement in the not-for-profit sector allowed her to
do some short mandates for the Salvation Army and other organizations.
When the opening came
up at the Alzheimer Society, she thought it was a good opportunity for her to
use her business and marketing skills there and also to continue to give back
to the society.
“I was raised by parents who made me realize that I was
fortunate. I was very much aware that there were other people, other children
who were not as fortunate as I was.”
She said her parents were very openhanded; her father was a
teacher and then became a lecturer at CAST (now the University of Technology)
and her mother was a civil servant.
“My parents were very clear with my sister and me that we
were fortunate and we followed their example by always being encouraged to
serve in some way.”
At Immaculate, she was also encouraged to give to the
society and to use her talents in that way.
“Personally, I’m always curious to see what better looks like
so that’s what motivates me,” she says.
In a notice of her appointment, Robert Beaudoin, chairman of
the board of directors, cites Isaacs-Morell’s involvement in non-profit
organizations such as the Anglican Foundation, YWCA Montreal, West Island
Palliative Care Residence, Anglican Diocese of Montreal, Black Academic
Scholarship Fund, Salvation Army, and Fondation des Arches du Quebec.
“She is an exceptional woman, but also a talented artist who
expresses her creativity and values through her painting. There is little
doubt, then, that art will be front and centre at the Society with Camille at
the helm,” he said.
It was while going through a difficult time when she came to
Canada 25 years that she started painting.
Between jobs she was walking down a street and saw that art
courses were being offered somewhere. She immediately signed up and the rest is
history, she says.
“It just comes naturally and a lot of my paintings that I do
I sell a few but I do donate a lot to charities and to other worthy causes.”
Fluent in English, French and Spanish, she often
communicated in the latter language when she worked at the foreign affairs and
foreign trade ministry.
When former prime minister, P.J. Patterson went to Argentina
and Chile she accompanied him on that trip.
[This story was first published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, Nov. 15-21, 2018.]
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