Hayley Wickenheiser can’t believe how quickly her drive for personal protection equipment has come together.
The Canadian hockey legend, Ontario premier Doug Ford and an army of volunteers joined forces at a storage facility in Toronto on Saturday to collect, organize and then distribute badly needed medical equipment to front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Oh, it’s amazing. Eighty volunteers from all walks of life, most people who didn’t know each other since Monday,” said Wickenheiser on speakerphone as she continued to work with volunteers. “Major business folks, lawyers, doctors, the Ontario Medical Association is helping. We got a truck here from Barrie that brought massive supplies down.
“Just Canadians coming together. That’s just what this is. It’s the grassroots.”
Wickenheiser’s medical training in Toronto was paused when her teachers joined the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19, so the Hockey Hall of Famer launched a social media plea for personal protective equipment last Sunday.
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds amplified her request to his 35 million Instagram followers, boosting her call for 13,500 masks, 13,500 gloves and 1,350 chemo gowns.
“This ConquerCOVID team is nothing short of miraculous,” said Reynolds in conversation with Wickenheiser and Ford. “These guys and girls have brought us back from the brink and my gratitude to them is pretty much endless.”
ConquerCOVID19 worked with Toys R Us to get baby video monitors into hospitals, so doctors can communicate with and treat patients in isolation while conserving PPE equipment.
The Wickenheiser-Reynolds request has led to a deluge of equipment to be sorted, stored and redistributed as quickly as possible.
This is @conquercovid19 team! Regular folks led by med students Yusuf and Reza doing amazing work! Thank you
@VancityReynolds pic.twitter.com/OF5ppXuq2k
— Hayley Wickenheiser (@wick_22) April 11, 2020
“We’re going to make deliveries right away today as fast as we can to the vulnerable populations that are really needing them,” said Wickenheiser. “We want to start getting our drivers on the road. We don’t want to house this stuff, we want to get it in and get it out as fast as possible.”
Volvo has supplied a fleet of vehicles to deliver supplies to hospitals and health-care facilities, with Purolator and Canadian Tire also donating supplies and services. Shopify donated $1 million on Saturday to the cause.
Wickenheiser says she’s pleased with the response from corporations and individuals alike, but says the goal is to “bridge the gap” until supplies ordered by provincial and federal governments arrive.
“We hope that we don’t have to continue on,” said Wickenheiser. “Our governments are waiting for shipments to help people but there’s a lot of vulnerable populations or Indigenous communities that are going to need this stuff and we’re trying to help out.”
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are asked to self-isolate for 14 days in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others.
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
— With files from Donna Spencer in Calgary
© 2020 The Canadian Press
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