It was a busy day in Vancouver yesterday, that began with a visit to the Health and Home Care Society of BC. The team was greeted by Inge and Chantal and given a tour of their respite care facility. They also enjoyed meeting some caregivers there and hearing their stories of dedication and care – Joy is a volunteer in the day program whose husband was a guest at the respite home for five years before he passed away, and Brad is a professional caregiver who has been has doing this work for 25 years and been with the Society since it started in a church basement 12 years ago. Stellar Caregiver Award contenders? We think so!
At GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, BC’s largest rehab centre, Helmut and Amy met with Director, Cori Ross while Norbert stayed with the van for its big photo shoot with the Vancouver Sun. GF Strong is also involved in organizing the REE – Rehab Equipment Expo – in Vancouver on September 9th at the Richmond Olympic Oval (details at http://www.rehabmagazine.ca/blog/uncategorized/2014-rehab-equipment-expo).
The rest of the day was filled with dropping off Awards materials at long term care homes around the city, before boarding the ferry to Vancouver Island. Simply stunning! See below.
Only two days left…and our whirlwind Canada Cares Tour is wrapping up out west. The team is in Victoria today visiting seniors centres and will be at the Victoria YM/YWCA on Broughton Street from 11 am to 1 pm.
Tomorrow morning Norbert heads back to France and Helmut and Amy will hit up Nanaimo before returning Amy back home there to get ready for school. Although Helmut wouldn’t mind staying in BC and driving the MV-1 around on tour forever, he too will be getting back on a plane to Toronto on Monday.
We’ll be sad to see the adventure come to an end – and so, we’ve decided not to! We’re shipping the van back to Toronto so we can tear around Southern Ontario over the next few weeks. We’ll keep you posted about when and where we’ll be!
Don’t forget that you or someone you know could be driving the MV-1 for the next three years. Tell us why you need this vehicle for your chance to win. Enter now at www.canadacares.org/contests/.
Amy, Chantal, Joy and Helmut at the Health and Home Care Society of BC.
Chantal and Inge show Amy and Helmut the respite facility.
This door is painted like a dog house to avoid patients with dementia from exiting through the emergency door.
Helmut and Amy with Cori and GF Strong.
The MV-1 makes a spectacle of itself!
Finally, those stunning ferry views!
