‘I’ve got to do this’: Hayley Wickenheiser pushing drive for medical supplies

Hayley Wickenheiser, an officer of the Order of Canada, a four-time Olympic hockey champion and employee of the Maple Leafs, was in a car headed for the suburbs. She was on a mission to pick up a batch of medical supplies.

Her vehicle was part of a fleet bound for Burlington, Ont., as part of a grassroots collective of people trying to get personal protective equipment to the doctors and nurses fighting COVID-19. She tried to explain the anxiety those workers can feel when supplies are running low, as they are now.

“Just how dire it is, how contagious this disease is,” she said. “How rationing masks when you’re expected to be a foot away from someone’s face who has COVID-19 is absolutely crazy — just the amount of viral load a person can receive from treating people, one after the other after the other.”

Wickenheiser drew more attention to the issue with her Twitter account on Sunday night, pleading for surgical masks, gloves and gowns for front-line workers. Ryan Reynolds, the Canadian actor, followed that with a message of his own, pledging autographs, personalized videos and memorabilia to “people who help Hayley.”

The message echoed across the social media platform on Monday.

“Ryan and I are friends, and we have been for a number of years,” Wickenheiser said. “We met at Canada’s Walk of Fame and we’ve stayed in touch for a long time. When I sent out the tweet, he texted me and said: ‘Would you like help amplifying that message?’”

Reynolds has more than 15 million followers on Twitter.

“He’s a special person, and he’s an amazing Canadian,” Wickenheiser said. “He’s just a normal guy to me. But his celebrity and his wealth are doing a lot of good. It’s going to save lives here.”

Read @wick_22’s message below. But first… People who help Hayley get this critical PPE gear will get something awesome from me. I’ll send you personalized videos. I’ll sign whatever you want. I’ll send Deadpool Bobbleheads and/or movie memorabilia. https://t.co/RxwPWFt8CW

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) April 6, 2020

Hours before she spoke on Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned healthcare workers across the province were running critically low on supplies. U.S. President Donald Trump has asked shipments to Canada be stopped at the border.

“I have a best friend who’s undergoing Stage 4 cancer and had a care worker show up without a mask because she didn’t have any — to give her a lung drain at home,” Wickenheiser said. “This is how the virus spreads. It’s incredibly contagious. We have to protect those on the front lines.”

The 41-year-old is a medical student who was on a rotation in the Greater Toronto Area as the pandemic swept across the world. She said students have been pulled from the front lines because the “docs who teach us need to be there to save peoples’ lives.”

Wickenheiser, who is also assistant director of player development with the Leafs, has partnered with a grassroots organization created to get equipment straight into the hands of those working on the front lines. The group, called Conquer COVID-19, was part of the convoy to Burlington on Monday night.

Yusuf Ahmed, a medical student at the University of Toronto, was part of the convoy, too. The items picked up Monday would be transported back to a storage facility in Toronto, where they would be itemized, then shipped directly to those who need it.

“It’s a very small role,” said Ahmed. “We’re doing nothing compared to the people who are actually on the front lines. Even if we can give one piece of PPE to a doctor who needs it, in my mind, that’s a success, and that’s really our mission.”

He said the group will hold a collection drive for personal protective equipment from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday in Toronto (XYZ Storage, 459 Eastern Ave.). It has a drive-thru facility, where donors are able to drop the equipment on a table without having to come within six feet of anyone.

The group would take inventory, then distribute based on need. Their goal is to fill the gap between the time supplies reach critical levels in Ontario, and when the government can source reinforcements. The group can move quickly, and it can move without bureaucratic slowdowns.

“It’s Canadians helping Canadians,” Ahmed said. “That’s what we’ve been telling people.”

One of those Canadians happens to have more Olympic gold medals than the rest.

“She wants to help, she wants to do good things,” Ahmed said. “As a person who’s looked up to her, I want to be like that one day when I’m older. And when I’m, hopefully, a physician practising, I want to be able to advocate for people like she has her whole life.”

In her Twitter plea, Wickenheiser said she did not have much to offer. She might be able to deliver a signed jersey, “a smile and guaranteed good Karma” to anyone able to provide the equipment. In the middle of a pandemic, she offered to pick up the gear herself.

“I don’t feel at risk,” she said. “I felt more at risk at the hospital than I do right now. I’ve got to do this. If I can’t be in the hospital treating patients, I might as well be out here.”

(Photo: John Berry / Getty Images)