Love wasn’t the only thing in the air during Our Lady of the Snows (OLS) St. Valentine’s Day academics and achievement ceremony – a good dose of praise and recognition was also present.
The school spent Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) acknowledging the hard work and individual achievement students showcased over the last semester.
“We’re awarding our first semester awards and we have academic awards for students who have honour and distinction with 80 and 90 averages,” said OLS principal Vincent Behm. “We’re recognizing students with the highest mark in subject classes and then we’re recognizing students for demonstrating the virtue of love in our school and our community and that’s why this day was chosen.
“As well, we have two members from Canmore Hospital recognizing our students and in particular (Grade 12) student Robin Scott, who coordinated the Adopt a Senior program for Christmas time, where students spent time with seniors at the lodge.”
Harle Brunett, volunteer resources coordinator and Adele Folliott, recreational therapist at Canmore General Hospital, personally thanked Scott for her commitment to the program.
“We’re recognizing Robin Scott for her volunteer work and particularly a specific event that happened at the hospital over Christmas. It’s for the Golden Eagle View, which is the long-term care program in the recreation therapy department,” Brunett said.
“It was a Christmas program we were holding for our residents over that period – so we’re acknowledging her for all the work that she did,” added Folliot.
“It was probably one of the best choices I ever made to take the recreational therapy job I did,” Scott said after receiving her award. “You get so much more out of it than you put into it. I think and feel every individual should work and have a chance to experience working with seniors, they’re the most grateful people you could ever meet and there is just so many things you can learn being with them.
“In recreational therapy we would make signs for events and crafts and now when I volunteer I’m helping with transporting and sitting down and talking and playing games with people ... it’s just a lot of interacting and talking with them.”
“One of my favourite sayings about volunteering comes from Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Brunett. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are we doing for others?’ There are many opportunities to volunteer at the Canmore Hospital and students who volunteer will gain knowledge and experience at a health care centre.
“Whether it’s an interest in becoming a doctor, nurse, an occupational therapist ... there are many different things you can do at the hospital to see if this is an area you might like to have a career in.”
Brunett added that anyone interested in volunteer opportunities should visit the website for resources at Alberta Health Services (AHS), or they can contact her at the Canmore General Hospital.
“We would send out a volunteer application and we would be happy to meet with them,” Brunett said. “We do orientation training for AHS and we do specific training in whatever area the person is interested in volunteering for. If it’s in long-term care, we would maybe do something with dementia and how the program’s run and if people are interested working in acute care, which is more of the hospital setting, we do training in that area. We have palliative training – lots of training for adults as well as for Grades 11 and 12.
“We want to keep that connection between our students and youth and our senior community.”
Visit, www.albertahealthservices.ca/services.asp?pid=saf&rid=1076382 or call 403-678-7200 to find out more on volunteer services and opportunities with AHS and Canmore General Hospital.
