First responders parade past RIH paying tribute to healthcare workers

A parade of first-responder vehicles drove past Royal Inland Hospital on Wednesday evening with lights flashing and sirens blaring in a tribute to the healthcare workers inside.

The event started behind the Kamloops Law Courts at 7:30 p.m. Vehicles headed west on Columbia Street before turning into the hospital grounds.

Kamloops Fire Rescue crews, BC Ambulance paramedics, RCMP officers, Kamloops Search and Rescue crews, Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement officers and BC Sheriff Service deputies were involved.

The parade drew supportive honks from drivers stopped to let first responders through, and a handful of onlookers brought signs, noisemakers and a drum — cheering and waving at healthcare workers who watched the parade from hospital windows above.

Imogen Wood was part of a group who came out to the parade.

“Healthcare workers deserve to be recognized for the hard work that they are doing, and they are having such a terrible time. We have friends who work in the hospital who are working 12-hour shifts, getting yelled at, getting booed on their way to work. It’s not OK,” Wood said.

Gwen Campbell McArthur, a retired psychiatric and mental health nurse, came out with a drum to support the healthcare workers.

“I've been on the frontlines, too," she said.

"I know how exhausted they must be, how tired they are. I think we really need to keep the morale up, boost their morale."

She said it’s important to keep nurses, doctors and healthcare providers healthy so they can take care of residents regardless of COVID-19.

“We need to keep them here in Kamloops. Kamloops, as you know, is a hub for health care and for travel with the Coquihalla here, and we need to keep a vibrant hospital and a healthy hospital environment," she said.

"We've got a new patient tower that's opening and we need staff here so that we could have state-of-the-art healthcare.”

Royal Inland Hospital has been hit hard in recent weeks by surging local COVID-19 case counts, while healthcare workers have spoken out about feeling exhausted and burned out.

The hospital, as well as the courthouse a few doors down, was the site of an anti-vaccine protest on Sept. 1.