Gratitude makes the journey better and so does kindness

Category: Coronavirus Page 1 of 3

11 lessons from the year we are bidding goodbye to

I saw this cartoon the other day. A group of people were cautiously opening a door by pushing it with a long-handle broom. The door had 2022 written on it and the caption read ‘2022 – We’re all gonna walk in real slow…’.

It’s funny in that way that we have learned to laugh at since the first wave of the pandemic. We have now entered the fifth wave and I remember the initial predictions of the health officials about the light at the end of the tunnel becoming more visible as we were riding that first wave. The light, we have since found out, keeps going out and tunnel’s end keeps getting farther and then closer again.

The day after the anti-vaccine protests is a sobering one

I will start by saying I did not know there were anti-vaccine protests scheduled all over British Columbia for September 1. An update from a trusted news source revealed a reality that baffled me.

There were photos of an anti-vaccine protest taking place here in Kamloops, right in front of the hospital. There were more in other cities too, including Vancouver.

What better place than a hospital, the protesters thought. Never mind that for a long time now, the hospital has been the scene of some terrible battles with the COVID-19 virus (spoiler alert: it still is). Many people were intubated, some died, and many others recovered but not everyone is symptom-free. Some are what now we know to be long-haulers.

Weekly column: It’s not all doom and gloom as long as we make better choices

Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair mayor news on Monday, April 5, 2021.

I am not much for viral news but every now and then I wish some stories I come across get shared far and wide because of how significant they are. The one I came across on social media a couple of days ago was COVID-19 related and as much as I wanted to distance myself from it all during the long weekend, this one got my attention (along with the high numbers of new cases in our own province.)

A doctor from Ontario took to Twitter to share a story (with permission from the family) of a woman who died because of her husband contracting a COVID variant at work while not being adequately protected. Not by his own will, mind you. The disease unfolded quickly and deadly, said Dr. Michael Warner, medical director of clinical care at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto.

Weekly column: Teachers deserve to be listened to for the sake of us all

Originally published as a column on Monday, February 22, 2021 on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News.

You may have peeked at the news of the new variants appearing in some schools in the Lower Mainland. As I started writing, two more schools have been added to the exposure list for the U.K. variant, bringing the total number to five.

We are told there are ways to reduce the risk and generally improve our state of health. Eating healthy and getting daily exercise, washing hands and airing out properly so fresh air can reduce the number of disease-causing particles.

Weekly column: Becoming old does does mean that we become disposable

Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on February 8, 2021.

Some of my dearest early childhood memories have to do with my maternal grandparents who lived in a separate suite in the home I grew up in. My grandmother passed away when I was six and my grandfather three years later. I missed them terribly since.  

There were other multigenerational families living in the neighbourhood, and some of the older residents were empty-nesters, but in my mind, they are all ‘grandparents’ and an integral part of the proverbial village raising the children.

Weekly column: With cases growing, we need to change our strategy

Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor news on February 1, 2021.

If you have kids, you’ve likely been through a case or two of ‘are we there yet?’ and like all parents who are presented with the question, you probably answered ‘almost there…’ knowing that it’ll be a while yet.

Somehow it feels that way with the ongoing pandemic. Last week alone we saw multiple cases show up in our schools and we have the hospital outbreak. As of Sunday, there were 28 patients and 51 staff who tested positive at RIH (update: there are now 91 people affected, staff and patients.)

Weekly column: Politics and integrity should overlap – always

Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on January 4, 2021.

I saw a funny tweet a couple of days ago. It went something like this, ‘Canadians are urged not to travel overseas during the pandemic. They’d risk running into some of their elected officials…’ Except it was funny only for a bit.

There is a 2020 Christmas holiday wall of shame related to the tweet and it is reserved almost entirely for various MPs and MLAs across Canada. Many traveled as if there is no pandemic and while one or two of them claimed it was to attend a funeral or see an ailing relative, majority simply went on vacation.

Page 1 of 3

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén