OLDS – The first of more than 900 packages of thank you cards and treats for front-line health-care workers were presented to Olds Hospital and Care Centre (OHCC) staff on Nov. 2.
In total, 328 packages were delivered to the OHCC that day. In addition, 10 were brought to Emergency Medical Services and 25 to the Health Unit/Home Care.
One-hundred-and-fifty were delivered to seniors' care facilities in the community: 78 to Seasons Encore, 27 to Seasons Olds and 45 to Mount View Lodge.
More deliveries were expected to occur later in the week to health-care workers in other places such as medical clinics and pharmacies.
The packages were created by members of the Rotary Club of Olds, Kiwanis Club of Olds and the Olds Lion Club, Olds Regional Exhibition, students and teachers, the Catholic Women’s League, Girl Guides and others.
The idea is to show appreciation for the sacrifices front-line health-care workers have made battling COVID-19 over the past 19 months to keep residents safe.
Each package includes a thank you card and a letter of thanks as well as some treats.
The project was spearheaded by Mary Turner, a member of the Rotary Club of Olds who also works at Wild Rose Medical Centre.
Other Rotary clubs in central and southern Alberta and a chunk of western Saskatchewan have also decided to create packages of their own.
OHCC site manager Wayne Krejci was thrilled to receive the packages. He and other OHCC staff helped Turner distribute them in the facility.
“It means that the community is so supportive of health care in this community,” Krejci said during an interview.
“It’s unbelievable, the work and the effort of all the people who were involved to make this possible for the staff.”
Krejci is confident the cards will boost morale among OHCC employees.
“It can only bring it up,” he said. “The staff have been going long and hard for the last year and a half or better because of the situation in the province. And all the little things mean a lot.”
Krejci was amazed that so many thank you card packages had been created in a community the size of Olds.
“I had no idea,” he said. “I mean, the service clubs, the school, the Catholic ladies group and whoever else I’m missing came together in a concerted effort to support us and the community and it reflects back on Olds, how great a community this really is.”
Angela Sandberg, a recreational therapist for 23 years who works in long-term care at the facility, was among those receiving a package.
“To be recognized like this from part of the community, just being a member of the whole team at the hospital and being recognized for the work that we do as a team is so important,” Sandberg said.
Sandberg has seen firsthand the heart-wrenching effects of COVID on residents and their families as well as on staff who care for them.
"It affects all impacts of your life," she said. “I mean, we come here to do a job and just working with folks that are on isolation, from being isolated, they don’t have those connections with people. The interactions that you do have, everbody’s in full PPE.”
