With no soccer matches to cheer for, a group of supporters of the Glasgow Celtic football club is giving voice to patients who could be admitted to the COVID-19 unit at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody.
Members of the Vancouver Celtic Supporters Club that gather at the Port Coquitlam Legion in the wee hours every week to root for the famous Scottish side recently donated six video baby monitors to the hospital so nurses can keep an ear and eye on their COVID patients without constant intrusions into their rooms.
That insures a high level of care for those patients and more safety for the nurses working in the unit, said Susan Shergold, whose husband is a member of the club.
She said it was a friend of hers, a nurse in the COVID-19 unit, who first put out the call. And with more free time on their hands because of the lack of football matches, the 30 members of the Celtic Supporters Club leapt into action.
One of the group’s founders, Thomas Ferns, drove around to several electronics stores and Walmarts prior to many of the shops’ closures to source the monitors that are worth about $1,000 in total.
Shergold said it’s in the Supporters Club’s nature to be generous as members host several fundraisers through the year to help local causes, as well as an annual toy drive at Christmas.
“They’re always raising their hands,” she said. “They’re just a really kind-hearted bunch of individuals.”
The nurses safely expressed their appreciation by holding up hand-drawn Thank You signs in a photo posted to social media.
