They’re Best Work Buddies (BWBs) and they’re this week’s BWB Contest winners. Each pair has won a $10 coffee card and, along with everyone else who’s submitted a photo so far, they’ll be entered in the draw for the Grand Prize — a 1-hour private photo shoot with a professional photographer.

Vancouver’s BWB Contest is for everyone who calls one (or more) coworkers a best work friend. All Vancouver Community of Care physicians, staff and LMC colleagues working in partnership with us are welcome to participate — and the more you participate, the more chances you have to win.

For full contest details, refer to VCH News here.

For all photos submitted to date, visit our Vancouver Best Work Buddies Flickr site.

To learn more about this week’s winners and some of our other contestants, refer below.

BWB week 2 winners

Ana Monteiro and Eva Urbankova

Ana (left) and Eva are both contracts administrators who have a penchant for ice cream and baked goods.

Where do you work?

Home Support Services, Vancouver Community

How did you meet?

“Eva is my replacement! I got another job in the same-ish department(s) and Eva came on as my replacement. She was the closest doppelganger they could find! I wonder where my boss got my genetic material…”

What do you admire most about each other?

“We’re similar but not the same; it’s nice having habits that can be easily explained and understood and still make the other laugh! And we both love Earnest’s Ice Cream and Whole Food’s bakery department.”

 Simi Girn and Navi Kang

Simi (left) and Navi are program assistants who say they’ve been inseparable since 2006.

Where do you work?

Home Health, South Community Health Office

How did you meet?

“We first met at work in 2006 and since then we have been inseparable!”

What do you admire most about each other?

Simi: “What I admire about Navi is her problem-solving skills (cause she’s always solving my problems!).”

Navi: “What I admire about Simi is her kind heart and her willingness to always help even if she doesn’t want to :)”

The stories behind the photos

While we don’t have the space to share everyone’s full stories here (we’re working on that!), some entries have stood out for us and we’d like to share them with you today.

Cates Bayabay and Isabelle Bertrand

Cates (left) and Isabelle, VGH RNs, are pictured hanging off the top of the CN Tower.

Isabelle writes: “We met on the very first day of nursing school back in 2008 and have been best friends since! We were so ecstatic to both get hired at VGH; it makes it so easy to do our favourite thing: get caught up over London Fogs at Café Ami!

We admire one another for our shared kookiness and sense of adventure. In fact, when we are together we bring out each other’s brave sides, and are able to push one another to do such wacky things. Together we’ve hung off the top of the Toronto CN tower, ATV’D and hitchhiked our way around Greece, camped in the abandoned caves of Turkey, treated a heat stroke victim in the remote northern Philippines rice terraces, the list goes on! “

 Linda and Murray Doré

Linda and Murray, VGH Biomedical Engineering, are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in July.

Linda writes: “I think we should win your best work buddy competition because we have been BWB’s at VGH since 1983 (32 years). We will be celebrating our 30^th wedding anniversary this month.

We first met at BCIT but didn’t date until starting to work at VGH. We respect each other’s opinion and advice. We both have strengths and weaknesses that complement each other. We don’t work together at work but at home we make a great team.”

Angela Cheng and Jenny Wang

Angela (left) says this is a favourite photo, “a re-enactment of how we met” at the Jack Bell Research Centre.

Angela writes: “We met on a sunny day in April, Jenny’s first day at work. She walked in, said hi, wearing the exact same outfit as I (Angela). In that moment, I was intrigued by our similar taste in style, and knew we would be fashion rivals at work. Just kidding! Three months later, we have regular coffee breaks together while we update each other about our lives.”