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Heather MacLean was walking into Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital for a night shift recently when she heard people shouting her name.
“I’m talking on the phone walking into the hospital,” the Olympic swimmer recalled. “There was all this ruckus. I looked over and thought ‘I know those people.'”
Her sister Brittany and parents Dan and Michele had arrived bearing cookies and waving signs to fortify the obstetrics nurse during a stressful time for front-line health care workers.
“We were trying to beat her to work,” Brittany said. “She decided this one day of all days to leave super-early because she’s a great nurse. We literally drove the car behind her the whole way.”
Heather and Brittany both swam for Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Brittany won a relay bronze medal four years later in Rio. She is the Canadian record holder in three freestyle distances.
The Toronto sisters were each other’s strongest supports during their swimming careers. Now retired, they continue to lean on each other.
Helping women deliver life into the world during the COVID-19 pandemic sometimes feels like a minefield for Heather.
“You walk into the hospital and there’s a dense feeling, like a fog that’s kind of sitting in the hospital,” the 28-year-old said. “I think it’s just fear.
“We do the same things we always do. I deliver babies, but there’s a lot more equipment, personal protective equipment that we’re using.
“It’s harder to make a connection with patients when you look like an alien all covered up in your garb. There’s the fear of making sure we’re protecting ourselves and not bringing (the virus) home to our loved ones.”
Brittany works for the Canadian Olympic Committee, which launched a national “We Are All Team Canada” campaign as a rallying cry to combat the spread of the virus.
Athletes put signs bearing that slogan in their windows and urge Canadians via social media to do the same.
“I really thought it was impactful,” Brittany said. “We are all responsible for rallying together right now.”
The 26-year-old lives in the family’s Etobicoke home a short distance from Heather and her fiancé.
The sisters play euchre on Zoom to alleviate Heather’s stress.
“Heather will tell you about life as a nurse is you don’t really shut it off,” Brittany said. “I know how much she cares.
“Just knowing that her job every day is a little bit more challenging is definitely something I think about.”
The sisters turned to each other again this week following the death of Kevin Thorburn, who coached them at the Etobicoke Swim Club.
The club announced Thorburn’s passing Tuesday, but did not give cause of death for the 63-year-old.
“Kevin had a big impact. He created our swim careers in a way,” Heather said. “It’s been a hard few days after learning of this news.”
Knowing Thorburn’s favourite drink was a quad espresso, the siblings drove around in separate cars to find an open drive-thru.
They met on the family home’s front lawn to reminisce about their late coach over coffee while practising social distancing.
“Growing up in the house, it was just the two of us and our parents,” Brittany said. “We were each other’s backbone in the sport.
“We created an environment where it was a safe space to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.”
Her sister’s support and her own training as an Olympian helps Heather weather work stress.
“I feel so many parallels between what I’m doing now and when I was a high-performance athlete training for the Olympics,” Heather explained. “The anxiety is there. The work ethic.
“In the time of an emergency at work, you get that adrenaline rush. That was the same as right before you were about to get on the blocks. Now, life or death hangs in the balance.
“I draw from what I learned then about stress management, coping strategies, being present and staying in the moment, and being mindful in my day-to-day work at the hospital now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2020.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
