I was asked by a friend who worked in First Aid at the stadium to help her organize and schedule medical volunteers. She was the Medical Director and my title was the Medical Volunteer Chair Manager. Our medical committee consisted of our Director and three other Medical Chairs who would serve as Team Leads. This event is formally known as the BC Senior Games.
My role was to manage the volunteers and schedule them as they signed up. Problem was that no one was rushing to sign up. We didn't have group committee meetings so keeping in the loop about things was challenging. In the end, two of the Chairs had left the group and the Director left with only a couple weeks before the event. The worse part was that I had less than ten volunteers signed up less than a month before day 1. In a desperate effort, I Google every first aid training centre in the greater Vancouver area so I could email them and hopefully find volunteers. I received some emails back that they were posting my poster in their kitchen to get some eyeballs on it. However, there was a man, named Derek, who emailed me back and expressed that this was the type of event he was looking for. Training firefighters and paramedics need experience working with different patients and working with seniors was one on their list. He worked at Firemedix and offered to organize a list for me with volunteers. In the end, he sent me 40 medical officers. This was enough to keep the games going if managed properly.
The only other Chair left in the group, whose name was Steve, was quickly promoted to Medical Director and we got together and worked on the schedule as he had more medical knowledge than I did and understood their roles better. After a couple meetings at Starbucks, we came up with a schedule that worked.
The event ran from Aug 25-29th. The games cauldron was lit in North Vancouver at the shipbuilders yard.
The volunteers that showed up were wonderful to work with. We had some broken teeth, collapses and bumps and bruises to deal with but thank god, nothing major. We were based out of the Harry Jerome Centre. Every morning, they would show up, get their assigned shifts and pick up their medical equipment and then head off to their locations. I was very impressed with their professionalism.
On the last day, we had a crazy strong windstorm. I woke up a bit later that day so I could bring somosas for my team. It was bright and sunny in Surrey. As I got closer to North Van, I noticed the dark clouds and the wind. By the time I reached Harry Jerome, there were many small branches strewn about the roadways and the wind was getting stronger by the minute. We checked on our volunteers in each location as the storm got worse throughout the day. One of our volunteers reported back that a tree had just fallen on a house across from where he was. Others at curling and hockey were reporting power outages. The hockey game at the Canlan Ice Sports Centre was postponed once the power went out and was re-located to the Harry Jerome Centre where we were. I made sure my staff was safe and fed them somosas as they returned one by one. Then I sent them home as it really wasn't safe outside.
Steve and I stayed behind until the hockey game ended at our arena. We packed up our room and loaded our cars while we waited for the game to end. We had a paid medical team looking after the players. Once the game was over, we took our supplies back to the headquarters and unloaded everything. Then we decoded to go to our volunteer party which had already started an hour before we got there. We were recognized, given some gifts and fed burgers and salads. Steve didn't stay long as he got called back to the firehouse he volunteers at. I wasn't surprised considering the chaos going on outside because of the storm. All you could hear were the ambulance, fire trucks and police car sirens going off. I didn't stay too much longer after he left.
I'm glad I got to work with such amazing people on this event. I learned a lot from them.
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