Kim's Story

Take a listen to Kim's story by clicking on the orange play button. You'll also be able to read through the transcription below.

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Kim's Story: Recorded on March 8th, 2022.

Bailea Jackson 00:01

Okay, so, before we get into our first question, I'm just going to get you to introduce yourself; your name and how long you've been in Alberta for.

Kim 00:12

Kim Menzel. I've been in Alberta all my life. So 57 years.

Bailea Jackson 00:17

In the same area?

Kim 00:19

Pretty much in the same area. Yeah, I mentioned I was, you know, to grade seven, in Edmonton, and then St. Albert until 2000. And then we moved out to our acreage and then moved back to St. Albert four years ago.

Bailea Jackson 00:40

Nice. Okay. All right. So my first question for you is, what might someone living in Alberta choose to consider the start of the pandemic? So, generally, with your knowledge of how Albertans are, what would you say they would consider the start of the pandemic?

Kim 00:58

When it started kind of thing? I'm going to think, kind of like March of 2020. March, April of 2020. When, like, when things really became locked down. Like, that's when I want to say, I think before it was just like, oh, it's gonna pass or it's not - it's not as scary as they're making it out. So I'm gonna say probably March when we were locked down the first time is when they - oh, this is real.

Bailea Jackson 01:32

Yeah. Okay. And is that when you would specifically consider?

Kim 01:35

Oh, absolutely. Because I wasn't, we had a wedding. My god-daughter's wedding was the end of February, and February 29, and even at that point, we were like, ah, we'll see what becomes of it, right. And then I think, like, it was like a week later, it was like, Okay, we're going to start shutting things down.

Bailea Jackson 01:57

Oh, wow. So that wedding was just on the border.

Kim 02:00

Yes, just on the border. Yeah.

Bailea Jackson 02:01

Wow. Okay. And so I guess off of that, how have you marked celebrations with your friends and family during the pandemic?

Kim 02:12

FaceTime I can't remember what that it's a Facebook, FaceTime, or something like Leann has an iPad kind of thing that's just meant strictly for because Remi was just, she was born in January. And so she was like a month old in February. So three months old, when we were locked down. And we didn't see her until she was eight months old. Kind of thing.

Bailea Jackson 02:42

Okay, so technology has really helped?

Kim 02:45

Totally, that's the only way. Through FaceTime.

Bailea Jackson 02:49

Yeah. Is FaceTime the most used for you?

Kim 02:55

For us it was FaceTime? Yeah.

Bailea Jackson 02:56

Yeah. Okay.

Kim 02:57

Just because we we all have iPhones. And so that's just how we all - the easiest form.

Bailea Jackson 03:04

Gotcha. Okay. And how has your daily routine changed because of the pandemic?

Kim 03:13

So from at first it was, you know, when you're working at home, it's a lot different, because, like, for me, I hated it. Because I'm, I'm that social person. I like to be out in the public. That's why I do what I do. And so I found it quite difficult. So the change for me was, it was hard for me to get into the mindset of work, rather than I'm at home to do home things, or to do both things. I think that would probably be the big one is everything changed, right? I don't have to drive anymore. I didn't have to go outside. So I think first couple months, you're like, a home, you become a homebody, and you don't want to be that. So then you're like, Okay, we're going for a walk every night or let's do some form of exercise. And at one point, like in the winter, it was minus 35. And I said, I don't care. We're going for a walk. Like, I'm losing my mind. I gotta get out of here. And so that's when it really started. So that would have been like, December, January ish.

Bailea Jackson 04:15

Of 2020?

Kim 04:15

Yeah.

Bailea Jackson 04:16

Yeah. I wonder for like things like getting groceries. I remember some people would go, but some people like,

Kim 04:28

had them delivered.

Bailea Jackson 04:29

Yeah.

Kim 04:30

My husband wasn't one for that. So he, we chose just one person to go get the groceries. He went and did the groceries, at that time he wasn't working. So yeah, so he went he did the grocery shopping. While I worked or whatever, right?

Bailea Jackson 04:44

Yeah. Okay, cool. And as someone who works within your community, in multiple different ways, is there any moments that have happened because of the pandemic that have changed how you perceive your community?

Kim 05:00

I don't think so I always found St. Albert to be a family orientated community. And at one point when I was re employed like redeployed to a different area of work, so I did public works. And in that public works, I went around and I counted. The city wanted to know a city of St. Albert wanted to know how many people were using the outdoor amenities, right, skating rinks, toboggan hills, dog walking trails. And so one of the things that I had to do was drive around, it was, like, probably about a two and a half hour loop. Drove around and counted how many people were on the ice rink, what were their ages, like, what, approximately what their ages were. And what I found was, that's how St. Albert was dealing with it, like a lot of people ice skating. And now, when I look at it, the rinks are empty. So I think in in one way it made the community settle back down and become a more of a family again, does that make sense? Like I think I think they did things as a family more, which is what I see St. Albert to be. So I think it brought everybody back to the family aspect and not farming your kids out to different activities.

Bailea Jackson 06:29

Right. Like dropping them off.

Kim 06:31

Exactly dropping them off. Well, you see that here with our with the our job, like my job is they drop them off, they swim, that's free time. And now all of a sudden it was became a family time, because let's get out of the house. Right? Let's get out of the house.

Bailea Jackson 06:45

Yeah. Okay. And that's interesting that they, the city of Edmonton wanted to know, like numbers

Kim 06:54

City of St. Albert - yeah, they wanted to know how many people were at each toboggan Hill. At each dog park. Each skating rink, be it, Grosvenor has to them. So be at the hockey rink or be at the public rink.

Bailea Jackson 07:11

Neat. Very cool. I didn't know that. That they did that. Okay, so how has the pandemic changed or challenge relationships in Alberta? This is another kind of general as Albertans. You know, how do you think those relationships have changed? Generally.

Kim 07:27

I think it's put a line down like vaxxers and non vaxxers. Like, or it's, even though they say that we don't want to, to divide people, we don't want you like, it is a choice. It is a freedom for you either to be vaccinated or not to be vaccinated. That is a - it should be your freedom of choice. And just how, how people would react when you say, Yeah, I don't want to be vaccinated or I am vaccinated depending on whom you're talking to. Right? So that, I think that's what really was clear what really came out or look at the trucking, like the truckers, right, how the Convoy and how there is no gray area, it's either black, or it's white. And that's how I find people looked at the COVID pandemic, because it's either black, or you need to be vaccinated or not, or and then white by the opposite of whatever your belief is, right?

Bailea Jackson 08:40

So a lot of like social intensity.

Kim 08:45

Correct.

Bailea Jackson 08:46

Yeah. Okay, cool.

Kim 08:48

Because you're scared to say something.

Bailea Jackson 08:50

Right.

Kim 08:50

Because I don't know what, I may not know what your view is. And if I say what my view is, and your view is the opposite. I don't want a confrontation. Right. So for me, this is easier to keep my mouth shut.

Bailea Jackson 09:04

Yeah. So that was my next question for yourself, have you found, for yourself, have you found that relationships have been challenged, even if they're not like close relationships? Or maybe there are some close relationships.

Kim 09:16

I don't want to say that their relationships are challenged. It's just you, you know who - okay, if I'm talking about work I knew who saw my beliefs, and it was just it's like, it's like politics and religion. It's something that all of a sudden, was a topic that you didn't really want to talk about. Because you know, that, you know, that, like for me and my supervisor, our our views were totally opposite, totally opposite. So for me, I value that relationship that we have, so I chose and she chose not to talk about - we both knew how we felt about it. And that's all we needed to know.

Bailea Jackson 10:00

Yeah, right.

Kim 10:01

And so it never, we never really discussed it. It was like religion or politics. That's how I see the pandemic. Zip, keep your lips locked and don't talk about it.

Bailea Jackson 10:16

Okay. So you recognize that there's a difference. And instead of the confrontation

Kim 10:22

Correct. For me, it was just easier to - I don't want to like, I don't want to talk about it.

Bailea Jackson 10:27

Yeah, fair enough. Okay. So then my next question is in keeping up with COVID, updates internationally, nationally, and provincially, what resources do you trust to give you the information you need?

Kim 10:42

At first, it was listening to the Hinshaw daily reports, right? And then, And then there was just things said and done that, like, your numbers, okay, our numbers weren't accurate. Those deaths, we can't say for certainty that they didn't die from, from the pandemic, they had underlying issues, but COVID is what caused the death or cause their underlying issues to come forth, whatever. So then after a while, it's like, if you, for me, if I really listen to what people were saying, I always felt people were contradicting themselves. Like always saying one thing, but giving you different numbers. So after, I stopped all together. The only time I listened was when Sean (her supervisor) asked me "Can you, can somebody please listen to the Hinshaw, Kenny, to see what the update is going to be your see what's happening? See where we are going as a facility?"

Bailea Jackson 11:51

For work.

Kim 11:51

And that would be the only two - for work, yeah - completely work related? Because I didn't. I didn't trust what was coming out.

Bailea Jackson 12:03

Yeah, and I think that that's a really big outcome for everybody it's this mistrust in information, which is why I'm asking about it.

Kim 12:13

Yes. And I think, honestly, if they would have just been honest and upfront and said, "Okay, these are the mistakes, we made". This, again, it's new, right? We have nothing to compare this to. Okay, so we thought that, that this, this was like, Okay, I'm going to use now, with being vaccinated. I know so many people that are triple vaxxed. And are sick, they're still getting COVID. So you're telling me that I need it was something that - I did not want to be vaccinated. Because I did not know what you were giving me that's the whole thing, right? Like, I didn't, I don't care if it's the flu shot or whatever, I need to know what you're giving me and why you're giving it to me. And they couldn't, they couldn't really say that at first, right. And then just going from friends that are doctors or nurses or that are in that field and them saying, again, half of them would say it's okay, it's safe. And the other half saying, I don't think it's safe, I think. I think you should wait, I don't think, you know, the truth is out there. Because how can they tell you the truth? And know what the side effects are when they haven't even done a study? So yeah, that's where that's where it became like, I trust nothing. I trust nothing that anybody says I'm just gonna, I can just see what what's happening and the numbers that are in the hospital, but why are they in the hospital? Are they vaccinated? Are they not vaccinated? Like, and you will never know. They say that your symptoms are less you will never know. You will never know if my symptoms were... I, unvaccinated, I had COVID and I was like two days of I feel yucky. Right? And if I look at every single person that I know that has, that has had it the worst person that I know of that that was sick, the worst tested negative three times during that the sickness time. So I don't know. Like how can you say that by being vaccinated it's going to be less less than what I already experienced. Like. I believe in my belief, it's all about your immune system. What can your immune system handle and by keeping us quarantine that affected my immune system, to help fight it. That's the way I look at it.

Bailea Jackson 14:59

Huh, okay, nice. Okay, so going back to the sources that you you do trust or you don't trust? Why - you did kind of already, you know, give me some information about this. But, yeah, why?

Kim 15:24

What changed to I'm gonna do not trust?

Bailea Jackson 15:27

Yeah. Or, you know, if there is something that you do trust every once in a while why do you trust that? Or if you've kind of, there isn't anything that you look at?

Kim 15:35

I don't I don't think there will be anything that that I can trust. Until I don't know, five years down the road.

Bailea Jackson 15:46

Okay, yeah.

Kim 15:46

Right? Like when a normal, when a normal study has been done when a proper study. Okay, I understand that the study was faster because there was more people to test and more people to say, okay, there was 2 million people that we tested versus 2000 people and what they are like over the course of five years, I get that, I understand that. But you still don't know what the end outcome is, until 5, 10, 15 years from now. You don't know what the outcome is for kids 5, 10, 15 years from now, 20 years from now, like, that's for anything. So I think that's, that's why for me, it's kind of if, if you believe that you need to be vaccinated, great, then do so. That's great. But if you also have the belief that you shouldn't be I'm okay with that, too. And I'm not going to stop seeing you because you are or not vaccinated. That's not, I need to trust the person that I'm seeing that I'm sitting across from. I know that they are practicing, you know, washing their hands, maybe not hand sanitizing all the time, but at least washing your hands, hand sanitizing. Wear mask if you if you believe you need to wear a mask, but I don't understand how I can go into a hockey game and sit amongst hundreds of people 1000s of people but yet I can't go out to, I can't go - I'll use my Legion - I can't go on Tuesday nights to the Legion to play darts because there's 20 of us playing darts. But yet I can sit at a at a rink where there's 1000s of people. That's what doesn't make sense to me. And that's I think what the frustrating part was.

Bailea Jackson 17:41

Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So there have been numerous protests and demonstrations at the Legislature, downtown Calgary, Ottawa, all over the country, really, since the pandemic has started. And I just want to know what your thoughts on how COVID has brought people together in that way specifically?

Kim 18:06

I think, I think like, up until COVID I've never even been remotely close to to a protest ever. Like I hear about protests, right? You hear about you know how I don't want to use Black Lives Matter, because that became really strong. And I believe that became strong because of COVID in the separation. And that's just how I feel. So for me, it was like, I guess we're here in Canada we do protest, primarily in Alberta is like, hum, like good on you. I guess, I won't lie. I went to two of them. And I was just like, these people are weird, but but that's okay. Like that's, like my husband was a huge believer in it. Right. But I also think it it showed some some divide as well, like, I know, people that would go to the protests but yet wouldn't see wouldn't allow their children to see the grandparents because we have to quarantine or we have to say separate we're not allowed to visit. But yet they went to the Black Lives Matter protests. They went to the protests at Legislation. It's like, I'm confused. You'll go, to you'll go to that.

Bailea Jackson 19:43

Where there's lots of there's lots of people. Yeah,

Kim 19:45

Where there's lots of people not wearing masks. Not following protocol at all. But yet you won't let your parents or your in-laws see your children, I'm a bit confused. And I think that's, like, that's what it is like, there's so much confusion. It's even in oneself. You know? I believe the causes are great. But don't don't be hippocratic guess. Don't don't go to a protest and do a protest, but not sit together as a family inside, outside, I don't care. Like they wouldn't even see the grandparents let the grandparents in even on the driveway. That makes no sense to me, Bailea. No sense.

Bailea Jackson 20:37

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm kind of noticing a pattern that there's like, there's no, you know, you just say one thing, but something else is happening.

Kim 20:47

That's, that's right. You do another? You want to follow the rules. But you also want your freedom where you can't you got to... I don't know. I just find it confusing.

Bailea Jackson 20:57

Yeah. And I, I don't think you're alone. All right. What might someone living outside of Alberta perceive Albertans during the pandemic, how might they? And this is another general question.

Kim 21:13

I think, I think, I think people will see, see, like our system as a follower, right, like looking, kind of sitting back taking in the facts, because that's how I feel. I feel like Kenny is sitting back and saying, Okay, I don't know. Australia's was locked down, do we stay locked down because of their numbers? I even believe he said in one of his news things. England is opening up their cases are going down, but they went back up for a couple of weeks. So we're gonna kind of watch how that worked out. And then we'll open up maybe we'll open up later. So I think I think people will think we are more of a follower than than a leader. And I don't think that's bad. I think that was, I think that was a good thing. Because I think now that we're allowed to be mask free, other than in Edmonton, I think if you went back to locking us down, I think less people will locked down for sure this time. I think more people will rebuttal it like, we'll,

Bailea Jackson 22:06

Then before.

Kim 22:30

Then before. Absolutely. I think people are like, no, no, I'm not going back to that. I'm not going back to that. So I think, I think we're, people look at Alberta as a follower, rather than a leader in these events. At this time.

Bailea Jackson 22:48

Yeah. And then so specifically yourself, how does the percept- that perception affect how you see yourself as an Albertan?

Kim 23:00

I'm okay with it. Like I think, again, again, opening closing, opening, closing, shutting down. Shutting everybody in their house, on and off, on and off, on and off, isn't doing us a world of good, right. I don't care if it's mental health, if it's work, if it's people losing their homes, people losing their jobs, people losing their companies. Like that's got to stop. We have to at some point, we have to move forward, regardless of what is happening. I think we have to move forward and deal with it as the time comes around.

Bailea Jackson 23:42

Yeah, okay. And what were your thoughts when you first heard about a vaccine for COVID?

Kim 23:52

I knew, I knew that somebody would come up with something fairly quickly, because usually, typically, there's something that comes up right away. I think where I was disappointed, I wasn't shocked that that because in my view, COVID is still a form of I want to say flu, but a form of that type of, I think where there are there is vaccines out there or Yeah, vaccines for many things, right. And so I think they always had it on the backburner and they can kind of say, Okay, this is what it's affecting. This is what's out there. So I wasn't shocked. But I think what shocked me was the fact that how quickly they decided that it was good for you and everybody, everybody needs to get vaccinated and how they went about it. I'll give you $100 gift card if you get vaccinated, you know, like that's a bribe. That's not That's not letting me choose. My job, no different. I wasn't I had no choice. I'm the breadwinner of the home. So it's either okay Kim get vaccinated or you will be laid off, or you will - not let go, but you will, you will be eventually let go. And to be without a job here for what, six months? Yeah, that wouldn't have been, I would have lost everything. We lost everything, our home everything. So that's not the answer. So again, getting vaccinated because I have to, not my choice, I don't think is the right was the right way to do things. I think you should have the trust in your your people to decide what they want to do. Not tell them what to do.

Bailea Jackson 25:55

Yeah. Yeah, I again, I don't think that you're alone in in that at all.

Kim 26:02

No.

Bailea Jackson 26:02

Yeah. Okay, so you were vaccinated?

Kim 26:06

Yeah.

Bailea Jackson 26:07

If you could describe that experience. So how did you sign up for it? What was the experience like? How did you feel after that sort of thing?

Kim 26:15

So, talking to people that I know they were like, okay you want Pfizer - is better. Right, like, is it Pfizer?

Bailea Jackson 26:30

Yeah. Pfizer, Mederna...

Kim 26:30

Yeah Pfizer is the better - that's the one I got.

Bailea Jackson 26:32

Johnson & Johnson was another one.

Kim 26:33

Yeah, no, Johnson & Johnson was an absolute uh uhh right from the get go. But Pfizer is the one that talking amongst all of us that we all decided that, you know, just researching it. And so then I went to Shoppers. And the lady - oh, no, I'm not - I went to Walmart, sorry, Walmart. And the lady asked me, Is this something that you want to do? Is this something you have to do? And I told her it's something I had to do? And she said, Okay, can I ask why you don't want the shot. I said, because I don't know what's in it. So she took the time to explain to me what was in it, what could be harmful, that kind of thing. So I appreciated that, like it did help ease my mind, like saying that what's in here, there's really nothing new. It's been it's been given to people before. Or bits of it have been given. It's just a matter of how it reacts together to get rid of the virus. So I appreciated that. So I just, I had to be vaccinated by a certain date. So it was, instead of four weeks between I had to do three weeks, but she told me you could do three or four weeks. So I signed up for week one, and then I had to wait one week, and then I signed up for my second shot three weeks, like two more weeks later.

Bailea Jackson 27:01

Do you think that if more, you know, medical people like that lady at the pharmacist would explain it or had more contact with people? Do you think maybe would have changed things?

Kim 28:14

I think so too. Like, again, I mean, like my husband, it wouldn't have changed anything because he wants the freedom to do it himself. Don't tell me what to do. This is something I will do either A on my own or I won't do it. I believe that he probably will be vaccinated one day, but he'll do it on his terms. Not on your terms, not you telling him that he has to like me. Right. You have to because in order to keep your job, would I eventually been vaccinated? Probably. But again, on my terms. Not the city telling me I had to, right?

Bailea Jackson 28:56

Okay, and just before we get into our last question, Johnson & Johnson I'm curious to know why, why that one was just personally...?

Kim 29:08

Because Johnson & Johnson and been going through so many lawsuits with anything and everything that they have done, and it just and I'm talking before even COVID hit and then then all of a sudden Johnson is just like yeah, but I don't trust you.

Bailea Jackson 29:22

Gotcha.

Kim 29:23

Right. Like it's a trust thing, right? I don't trust that you're going to deliver a great product because you haven't in the past. And then all of a sudden really quickly. You have something yeah, no.

Bailea Jackson 29:34

No, okay, interesting. After you got vaccinated did you feel sick? I know a lot of people did.

Kim 29:42

No.

Bailea Jackson 29:43

No, hey?

Kim 29:43

My arm was sore. I could barely pick up my arm but but it for two days two or three days but no, I was not sick. Even after the - everybody said all these second shots. The second shot, you're going to get that you're gonna feel really sick. I didn't even like I didn't have a headache. Nothing, just my arm. Even when I had COVID again, I felt nehh but everybody I know, like my son couldn't smell or taste for five days, my husband who tested positive had nothing I don't even think he said, You know what, I might have woke up with a sore throat this morning, but I don't know.

Bailea Jackson 30:16

He wouldn't have registered that he was sick.

Kim 30:18

No, I feel if it wasn't for the fact that the only reason like for my son the only reason he got tested was because he found out he was on holidays for we went back to work. And his, the guy that he sits next to even though he wears a mask excetera, had been coming to work the whole time sick. He finds out he tests positive and my son's like, Are you kidding me? You know, my wife's pregnant. So he went right away, and got tested and, and tested positive. So then we all tested, we tested negative at first. And then we went three days later. And we tested no - a week later and tested positive.

Bailea Jackson 31:00

Did you go back again to test because you had symptoms? Or because just in case?

Kim 31:05

Just in case.

Bailea Jackson 31:05

Oh, gotcha. Cool. All right. So then my very last question for you. What do you hope people in the future looking back on this global issue will keep in mind or remember.

Kim 31:18

I hope they keep in mind what it what this whole lockdown thing did to people, did to relationships, did for mental health. Mental, physical, like where people are. Relationships lost. Like I didn't see my granddaughter, my new granddaughter, for - well it didn't help that I had hip surgery so I'm, I'm home couldn't go to see her. And then now we're locked down. Right? So I was, that was really limited. But I just I just I just don't think you should lock people down. Like I hope you see how many people, on top of the COVID dying from COVID, how many people died because of suicide, how many people - those kinds of things. Look at that big picture. Look at the big picture of what it did emotionally, physically, mentally.

Bailea Jackson 32:22

Socially.

Kim 32:23

Socially. I mean, we had twins come to our facility, the first time we opened up, or the instructors taught from deck. They were 27 months old. And this was the first time that was the first time since they were born - they were premies, Llke born early - that was a first time they were out in public.

Bailea Jackson 32:51

Wow.

Kim 32:53

Like what does that do? Like? What is that -

Bailea Jackson 32:57

COVID Babies. That's what they, they're being called.

Kim 32:59

Yeah, like what is that doing? When when a child looks at somebody that's not wearing a mask and freaks out, that's scary. Like to me that's scary. Like for I don't know. I can't. So, don't do that. Like don't, don't create those COVID Babies don't create those, what's the word I'm looking for, stereotyping, right, don't create those.

Bailea Jackson 33:31

So really look at, yeah, big pictures of all levels of our society kind of thing.

Kim

I get, I understand you don't want to overwhelm ICU, I get that and I understand that. So what do we have to do? Like, what what do you have to do? To make it my - cousin was sick. However, she she never went to the hospital. She was never in ICU. And yet she's a severe asthmatic. So she had a ventilator at home where she and she said she was sick. Yeah, I was sick for two weeks. Again, she was 80, right like she's in her 80s.

Bailea Jackson

She had a ventilator at home?

Kim34:15

They came in and they gave her three times a day nebulizer. Or whatever. Yeah. So she wasn't in the hospital. I think more of that needs to be done. And I know, I know at first they're, they're scared because they they don't want it like they don't want the the the medical professionals getting sick, because that would have caused and I get that and I understand that. But I think there are precautions that can be, could have been put into place or were put in place, I mean, worked for them. Right. And that would have been May of 2020 that she was, May of 2020 that she was sick.

Bailea Jackson 35:00

Did that ventilator help? Did she get better?

Kim 35:02

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Bailea Jackson 35:05

That's the first time I've heard of that.

Kim 35:06

So again, not in ICU, and I think more of that should have happened. And I think they should have been honest with their facts. Like be honest with your facts. If somebody's in ICU, yes, I have COVID. I caught COVID. And I and I personally know somebody that died. But it was his heart. And he was 93. Right? Like he's got so many other things playing against him. No different than than the staff here. They don't have to wear a mask now. But some of them are choosing to wear a mask because they have, they live at home, and their parents, one of their parents is immune compromised. I get it. That's awesome. That's your choice. Again, right? That's your choice. Not the government's choice telling you what you have to do. It's my choice. So look at the big picture.

Bailea Jackson 35:59

Big picture. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's all my questions. Thank you. Appreciate it. I'll stop the recording.

End.