Let call-out over past bullying inspire empathy

Winnipeg ER nurse shares her account of the fight against COVID-19

She's a veteran nurse at a Winnipeg hospital who has seen her fair share of medical emergencies. But nothing in her past could have prepared her for what's unfolding on health care's front lines amid the coronavirus crisis.

There are stringent new safety protocols. There's an omnipresent fear of the unknown. It's all become part of the new, frightening reality for Manitoba health-care employees — the foot soldiers in this pandemic fight.

The nurse worked back-to-back shifts last weekend at a Winnipeg ER. The woman, who has requested anonymity, shared her first-person account with columnist Dan Lett.

Heightened anxiety:I was very anxious going into this weekend. I felt like I was going into my first job. I was physically terrified about going into the hospital because of what I was reading and what was going on, and what I perceived was going on. I felt sick, like I was going to pass out. I’m sure my heart rate must have been 140. I don’t think I’ve ever been physically scared in my job and I have seen some violent patients in the emergency over the years.

Cup parade? How about a funeral procession instead?

The first step, it's been said, is admitting you have a problem.

And what had been bubbling near the surface for the Winnipeg Jets came to a full-blown boil Wednesday night in Colorado. Embarrassing. Pathetic. Inept. Those were just a few of the words that came to mind after watching the debacle in Denver.

Turns out I was being kind in my assessment of a 7-1 loss to the Avalanche, which included getting lit up for five goals in the final period. That prompted goalie Connor Hellebuyck — completely thrown to the wolves by his teammates — to smash his stick in half after Colorado converted the touchdown with 34 seconds left in the game. It wasn't a good look for anyone, even if it perfectly summed up the current state of affairs.

"It looked like we kind of gave up," said Blake Wheeler in a damning indictment of the team he captains.

Blue is the new black

Consumers can expect Pantone’s selection of Classic Blue as its colour of the year for 2020 to influence everything from interior paint colour to fabrics for cushion covers and bedspreads as well as fashion and accessories. But will the colour of the year announcement affect your plant choices? The 2019 colour of the year was Living Coral, a warm pink orange. I can safely say Living Coral had little influence on my plant purchases. The colour blue in the garden, however, has immense appeal to gardeners on many levels.

Blue is considered a cool colour and can be effectively used in the garden to create a perception of spaciousness. When blue plants are combined with mauve and grey plants, visually the plants appear to recede into the border. A background of blue-flowered plants — say, for example, Blue Boy clematis or Veronicastrum virginicum Culver’s Root — draws our eye upward toward the sky making a small space feel light and airy.

In announcing the Pantone colour selection for 2020, Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, said that Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation and lends itself to relaxed interaction. Nicole Bent, co-owner of Shelmerdine Garden Centre, concurs and says that using colour combinations of blue, gray, purple, indigo, even black, give a garden space a sense of stability and calm. Shelmerdine will offer a tempting array of plants this spring with captivating blue tones.

Deanne Cram, greenhouse manager at Shelmerdine, says a blue-flowered must-have perennial is Amsonia. Commonly known as blue star, Amsonia tabernaemontana pushes up green shoots from the soil in spring that by late June are fully adorned with round clusters of light periwinkle blue star-shaped flowers.

Mikaël Kingsbury unseated from Olympic moguls throne by the young Swede he used to coach

With only one athlete standing in Kingsbury’s path to a second Olympic gold medal, Walter Wallberg put up the run of his life in Beijing to steal gold, then described his Canadian idol as “the greatest of all time.”

Too early to draw conclusions about Jets

They can't all be works of art. And, to be honest, the Winnipeg Jets have resembled more of a finger-painting than a Picasso through the first week of the NHL season.

Head coach Paul Maurice's club has yet to hold a lead at any point — until scoring overtime goals in the two victories this season. They have been badly outshot the last two outings, including lengthy stretches where the ice completely tilted against them. They've lost the special teams battle. 

You get the picture, and it hasn't been very pretty.

"You’re obviously playing with fire when you spot teams two-goal leads, get down early in games, constantly have to come from behind," veteran centre Adam Lowry admitted to me Wednesday following the team's optional practice in Ottawa.