Long-term care residents volunteer at Canada Winter Games
“They really wanted to contribute. I said ‘leave it with me. We’ll make it happen.’”
It was more than a year ago when Leo Gallant heard the Canada Winter Games was looking for volunteers. Having been a volunteer for the 1991 games, he knew what kind of opportunity it would be.
“I met people from all over the world,” remembered Gallant. “I’ve never been able to travel much in my life, so this was a lot of fun. It felt like the whole world came to PEI. I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Gallant smiled. “But I was wrong.”
Gallant is now a resident at the Prince Edward Home in Charlottetown. He uses a wheelchair to get around, and his ability to leave the home is dependent on the schedule of accessible transportation services like Pat and the Elephant. He mentioned to staff at the home he would love to volunteer again, but he was worried it wasn’t possible.
“Leo is one of three residents, along with Gerry MacDonald and Doug Roper, who wanted to volunteer for the games,” said Crystal MacEachern, a case manager and social worker at the Prince Edward Home.
“It was really something. These guys wanted to be part of something special. Each one is in a wheelchair, but they’re all more than capable of helping out. They really wanted to contribute. I said, ‘leave it with me. We’ll make it happen.’”
– Crystal MacEachern, case manager and social worker, Prince Edward Home
MacEachern got a hold of staff at the games. They were more than happy to have the trio join their team, but with more than 5,000 volunteers to coordinate, they didn’t have the time or resources to arrange for special transportation.
MacEachern kept at it. She approached Andrew MacDougall, Health PEI’s executive director for Community Health and Seniors Care.
“He was just so enthusiastic,” said MacEachern. “He understood completely our motivation for making sure we found a way for these guys to participate.
He was able to find special funding to ensure they had transportation to and from their volunteer shifts and training sessions.”
“Crystal worked her butt off for us,” joked Gallant. “I can’t believe she was able to make it work. My very first shift, I was at the UPEI gym for wheelchair basketball. I was so excited for this, because I’ve played that sport myself. It was such an exciting day.”
Gallant ended up volunteering more than 25 hours of his time, including shifts with Roper at the Canada Games Place at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.
“That was a lot of fun, too,” remembered Gallant. “There were athletes from all over Canada, and they had TVs with all the different sports going at the same time. They also had a display with the different medals from through the years.”
Canada Games Place was also the spot where athletes could go on their rest days to meet and socialize.
“It was just like I remembered from 1991,” said Gallant. “It felt like the whole world came to PEI, and I got to be a part of it. I’m so grateful.”