Chen Yuanzhu, 95, makes scrubs for health care workers in B.C. with her daughter-in-law Wendy Deng (left) and family friend Winnie Hsu (right) in Richmond, B.C.Handout
Chen Yuanzhu learned tailoring skills years ago in Beijing, where she once made workers’ uniforms. Now 95, she’s putting those skills to good use, joining other Chinese-Canadian volunteers who have been sewing scrubs for health care workers in British Columbia.
She laments that her hands and her eyesight are failing: “I am old and clumsy now. I can only help iron … I really feel guilty that I can’t help more.”
But the Richmond resident feels deep gratitude for the health care workers who have been fighting COVID-19 and says her work with the volunteers – who include her daughter-in-law and a friend, Winnie Hsu – gives her the sense that she’s giving back.
“I feel compassionate for this global pandemic, especially for the doctors and nurses," she says. "I want to try my best to [support them].”
The three are involved in a volunteer group of about 200 residents across Metro Vancouver. Members track down the colourful fabrics, sew scrub caps and then deliver the finished items to hospitals and long-term care homes. They have handed over more than 3,500 caps and 140 headbands to health care workers in less than a month, says the group’s co-ordinator, Li Li.
Ms. Li established the group in early February, when many Chinese-Canadians were returning to Canada after visiting their families in China over the Chinese New Year. Back then, when the risk of the virus spreading within the province was still assessed as low, many members of the Chinese community voluntarily isolated themselves for two weeks upon their return. Volunteers from Ms. Li’s group picked many people up at the airport and delivered groceries to them while they were in quarantine.
Ms. Deng works as a health consultant, so the volunteer activity means she often doesn’t go to bed until 1 or 2 a.m.Handout
At the end of March, Ms. Li learned from a nurse at Vancouver General Hospital that she and her colleagues were in urgent need of cotton scrub caps. Ms. Li says the nurse was planning to buy some online but the delivery was going to take a month.
When Ms. Li shared this information in an online group chat, the volunteers turned their attention to sewing scrubs at home. After making only a few dozen, the group was soon receiving an overwhelming number of requests from medical staff at almost every major health care facility in Metro Vancouver, including Surrey Memorial, Richmond and Peace Arch hospitals.
The volunteers say the thoughtful designs of the caps and headbands are one of the reasons they are in high demand. They sew ties on the backs of the caps to make them adjustable and add buttons to both sides of the caps and headbands so medical staff can hang mask elastics on the buttons rather than their ears.
Ms. Li says medical personnel have a preference when it comes to patterns and colours: “Bright colours and floral patterns that can cheer [them] up. [Staff] from women’s and children’s hospitals specifically asked for cartoon patterns.”
To guarantee delivery as soon as possible, Ms. Li says many volunteers have been working around the clock, including those who still have a day job.
Ms. Chen’s daughter-in-law, Wendy Deng, works as a health consultant, so the volunteer activity means she often doesn’t go to bed until 1 or 2 a.m.
But “it’s absolutely worth it,” Ms. Deng says. She understands how important such equipment is to health care personnel, having worked as a doctor for 17 years in China and Japan.
In another household in Richmond, Chay Nen Hong, 86, spends three or four hours every day sewing buttons on headbands.
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“I want to help, to do my bit. I have nothing else to do [anyway].
“I am happy. I am very willing to do it,” says Ms. Chay, who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1993.
As demand for the scrubs increases, other members in the group have been recruiting more people to sew the gear, as well as seeking donations to purchase more fabric. Sandra Lau is one of them.
People “would call me, telling me, ‘I also want to take part in this.’ I am really touched," Ms. Lau says.
The 74-year-old also took part in deliveries several times but, concerned about exposure to the highly infectious virus, decided to drop that task.
For her part, Ms. Chen doesn’t intend to quit her volunteer work even if the pandemic in B.C. slows down. She says she will see what her daughter-in-law is up to next.
“As long as there is something I can do, I want to help.”
Christopher Mio and Meghan Hoople found themselves jobless and wanting to help in the wake of COVID-19 isolation in Toronto. After flyering their neighbourhood with a free-of-charge offer, they received an outpouring of support and requests from people in need.
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