Kelowna eatery offers free burger, beer to hospital staff for 'real-life sacrifices'
Kelowna health-care workers are being thanked for their efforts amid the pandemic with a free meal.
Kelowna vegetarian restaurant Frankie We Salute You posted on its social media pages it is offering a free burger and beer to Kelowna General Hospital staff this Saturday, Jan. 22.
The restaurant said the meal is a way to thank the hospital workers “for the real-life sacrifices you make every darn day - we know it’s especially tough right now but we gotcha.”
The free burger and beer will be given to those who show their hospital staff ID.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said roughly 10,000 health-care workers were off sick because of the new highly infectious COVID-19 variant omicron, during a press conference last week.
READ MORE: COVID making thousands of B.C. health-care workers sick
“This is an immensely challenging time when you have, incrementally, 10,000 health-care workers off in a given week, either for one day or more. That has an impact on services and we are adapting everywhere," he said. "The cancellation of non-urgent, scheduled surgeries, for example, was necessary to free up staff to support people coming into hospitals and necessary to ensure that acute care is well protected.
"The amount of healthcare being delivered is unprecedented at every level right now. Our health-care workers are producing more output than ever before, but we need to be patient because these impacts are affecting the system.”
It isn’t the first time health-care workers in the Okanagan have been offered a free meal for their efforts.
Last year, Kelowna’s Train Station Pub also offered free food to Kelowna General Hospital and B.C. Cancer Clinic workers.
READ MORE: Kelowna pub offers free meals for beleaguered health-care workers
To contact a reporter for this story, email Carli Berry or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
