Out with a bang

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This article was published 21/12/2020 (1913 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Patricia McGarry passed away in October at age 93, her family wasn’t able to give their fun-loving mother the big send-off she’d always wanted.

Instead, they made headlines because confusion over new COVID-19 restrictions on gathering size prevented two of McGarry’s six children from attending her funeral.

On New Year’s Eve, however, the McGarry family is going to finally send their mother out with a bang — quite literally — in the form of a huge fireworks display for patients and residents at Riverview Health Centre, where she spent her final days in the palliative care unit.

The display is being presented by local commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield Stevenson, where McGarry’s son Martin is CEO and son Kevin is managing broker.

“She always anticipated her funeral would be a large, lovely affair,” Martin McGarry recalled this week. “Two of us, of her six children, could not go to the funeral because we needed a videographer and only five were allowed to attend. So that was tough. She got ripped off.

“This (fireworks) is a fantastic way — and she would have just loved it; she’d be glued to the window — to celebrate her life. It’s very in keeping with her spirit. She was a very spirited, high-energy, tough woman. She loved fireworks and parties. She loved any excuse for a large gathering, a celebration. She was very social.”

The New Year’s Eve display came about after the commercial real estate firm contacted Riverview and offered to do something to brighten what has been a gloomy year for patients and residents.

There was only one condition — it had to be something fun.

“We usually don’t get that kind of request,” Sheldon Mindell, Riverview Health Centre Foundation’s executive director, recalled. “Usually donors want to know if there’s a specific project or they want it to go to a particular unit. A donation just for something fun is unusual.”

Mindell noted restrictions imposed by the global pandemic have made fun a scarce commodity, because it’s impossible to bring in entertainers or for the centre’s residents and staff to gather in large numbers.

“We thought about someone doing ice sculptures on the property, we thought about virtual sleigh rides,” he said. “Then we thought of fireworks. We were looking for an activity people could experience, enjoy and look forward to from the comfort and safety of their own rooms at Riverview.”

Winnipeg’s Archangel Fireworks scouted the property and identified three sites that would ensure all of the 387 residents and patients would have a view of the fireworks from their windows.

Along with the fireworks, the commercial realtors wanted to pay tribute to Riverview for the compassionate care Patricia McGarry received from the centre’s health-care workers, who are also unable to gather in large numbers to celebrate the season.

“We have about 700 staff and the centre normally puts on a seasonal event for them, but we can’t do that because of COVID-19,” Mindell noted. “So the company is sponsoring The 12 Days of Pizza, where every staff member gets a voucher that says ‘Thank you for your hard work and dedication this year’ and they get pizza, a cookie and a cold drink.”

Mindell said the fireworks, which are not open to the general public, will put a sparkling cap on what has been the most difficult year in memory for patients and health workers alike.

“I’m a big believer that you have to have something to look forward to — and that’s been hard because of COVID-19,” he said. “The fact we can do something like this and everyone gets an invitation it makes everybody feel they have something to look forward to.”

Martin McGarry said his mom, who became a nurse with the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corp, would have been thrilled to give those in care at Riverview a brief moment of joy.

“She was a very kind and giving person,” he said. “She would been so pleased her family was doing it for the residents and staff. She felt so secure and safe at Riverview Health Centre.

“We’d speak to her through the window because we couldn’t see her in-person and the staff were just so deeply caring. You didn’t come across a sad face in the whole building.”

Mindell, meanwhile, noted fireworks and pizza aren’t the only donations making the season brighter at Riverview — Petals West, a major flower wholesaler, donated a truckload of festive greenery to the centre.

“They had a five-ton truck back up to our shipping dock and a whole bunch of our staff rolled up their sleeves and unloaded 400 potted plants — most of them were orchids — for the residents, and 240 bouquets of fresh flowers for the staff,” Mindell said.

“Everybody was thrilled. Everybody’s anxious for 2020 to be over, but we have seen in 2020 a lot of companies and individuals step forward to ask what they can do to bring a little joy in a joyless year.”

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca