Photo from left to right: Tracey Swallow, Maria Gunkel, Anne Harvey and Bett Lauridsen. The “Commuter of the Year” Award is funded by VCH and offered to staff from VCH, PHSA, PHC and FHA.
Maria Gunkel, microbiologist at the VGH, and Tracey Swallow, facilitator, imPROVE at PHSA, were recognized at the VCH 2012 ‘Commuter of the Year’ award ceremony for their outstanding long-term dedication to carbon neutral commuting.
Maria Gunkel
Commuter of the Year, Maria Gunkel has cycled to work for the past 32 years. Maria lives in North Vancouver and started bike commuting when she worked at Lions Gate Hospital; the 10km bike trip became a daily habit, so when she transferred to work at VGH 5 years ago, she couldn’t give up the joy of riding her bike to work.
Maria cycles from North Vancouver to VGH, a distance of 40km roundtrip that takes her across the Second Narrows bridge, five days a week, rain or shine. When there is snow on the ground, she leaves her bike at home and if it is really pouring with rain, she jumps on the bus. Sometimes at the end of the day, she can be seen riding (or pushing) her bike up the final hill with a box of groceries on the back. At 65 years old, Maria is an extremely worthy recipient of the Commuter of the Year award and an inspiration to us all!
When asked what advice she had for others she said, “Once you are in the habit of cycling, it hooks you! The biggest hurdle is getting into the routine but once you do, it is such a good trade off and I feel healthy and fit because I cycle so much!”
Tracey Swallow
Tracey Swallow received special recognition for cycling to work daily for the past 20 years. For 10 years, she has been with PHSA, working with imPROVE, a department focused on improving processes to ultimately improve patient care/outcomes. She works with BCCA and BCCDC agencies to empower people at all levels to remove ‘waste’ and maximize what is of value to the patient (using Lean principles to work at making healthcare more efficient).
Tracey commutes daily from Ladner to Children’s and Women’s Hospital, a 32km round trip! In the winter, Tracey takes the bus for a portion of her commute rather than cycle to the Massey tunnel, carving a few kms off her commute and keeping her ride safe.
As an advocate of sustainable transportation, Tracey started volunteering with the Green+Leader program and conducted a survey on how her fellow staff get to work, inspiring some to look at alternative ways to commute.
Tracey agreed with Maria that cycle commuting has so many health and wellness benefits and she struggles if she ever has to miss a day on her bike. “I had a neck issue a while ago and my chiropractor said that I couldn’t cycle for a little while, I couldn’t bare not to be on my bike!”
Commuter of the Year Award Ceremony
Anne Harvey, Vice President of Employee Engagement with VCH presented the Commuter of the Year Award with Bett Lauridsen, transportation consultant for VGH, who works to promote healthier commuting patterns among VCH staff and created the Commuter of the Year award.
Anne thanked Bett for all that she does at the Commuter Centre, located on the lobby floor of the Jim Pattison Pavilion at VGH and said that there were real efforts taking place across VCH to promote active commuting for staff, such as the new bike cage at VGH and new storage and shower facilities that have opened at several sites. “We are pleased with some of the new facilities that we can offer for staff and we are looking at further ways to create more support for cyclists”, said Anne.
Know someone eligible for the 2013 Commuter of the Year Award?
Anyone can be nominated as the Commuter of the Year. Keep a look out for next year’s call for nominations and drop by VGH’s Commuter Center to see how they can support you in your commute.
More info
For more information on commuting alternatives and other GreenCare initiatives visit GreenCare’s c3community.ca to join the conversation with your colleagues at all four Lower Mainland health organizations.