Skip to content

B.C. nurses mourn lives lost to COVID, drug crisis, during Monday vigil in Victoria

8:15 p.m. May 9 event coincides with the start of National Nurses Week
29067464_web1_220118-CPW-nurses-doctors-exhausted-nurse_1
Registered nurse Cayli Hunt dons protective equipment prior to entering a COVID positive room at St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver in 2020. The B.C. Nurses Union is hosting a candlelight vigil Monday night (May 9) in Victoria to commemorate those lost to the pandemic and the toxic drug crisis. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)

Nurses from around British Columbia plan to gather for a candlelight vigil Monday night in Victoria to mark the loss of life during the COVID-19 pandemic and the toxic drug crisis.

The Vigil to Heal Health Care, which coincides with the first day of National Nursing Week, is planned for 8:15 p.m. May 9, in Confederation Garden Court at the corner of Belleville and Menzies streets near the B.C. legislature.

According to a release from the B.C. Nurses Union, the event is designed to give nurses, first responders and family members, “a unique opportunity to share in their grief and reflect on the overwhelming impact the last few years have had on communities, and a health-care system that remains in crisis.”

The speakers for the evening event include BCNU president Aman Grewal, and two frontline nurses who will share firsthand experiences of personal and professional loss.


 

Do you have a story tip? Email: don.descoteau@blackpress.ca.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.