The Canadian brewery While many British Columbians suffer from delays in the health care system in BC, one Kelowna man says he wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for the nurses and doctors at KGH. “I mean if you were in there and you saw what I saw for four days — these nurses don’t stop. They work 12 hours.” Andy Hoard says he had no energy and just wasn’t feeling well, so he went to the hospital Sunday morning. “I was under the weather. I have to go in and see someone and I thought I’ll be in and out in 20 minutes.” It turned out that Hoard had been in the hospital for four days. “They put their tails down. I was told I have low platelets and a quarter of my heart is not working now and never will. I never would have known if they hadn’t done those tests,” says Hoard. He’s out of the hospital now, but he’s so grateful for the care he received that he wanted to do something to say thank you. Howard says that while he was in the hospital he heard the nurses talking about eating the Canadian Brewhouse pizzas, “so I called Canadian Brewhouse and said, look, what can we do?” Turns out, general manager Kristen Neil loved the idea and decided to deliver pizzas to the Trauma Care and Zone 5 medical floors. “Today we wanted to surprise the incredible medical team at Kelowna General Hospital to show our support and appreciation for all they contribute to the Kelowna community,” said Neil. “Their work and the challenges they face have not gone unnoticed and they have not been forgotten! We thought this would be a fun and delicious way to show them we care.” Canadian Brewhouse delivered 12 large pizzas on Friday afternoon and Neil says giving back to the community is a big part of Canadian Brewhouse’s philosophy. Hoard says he had no idea the kind of pressure and chaos to be found in hospital emergency and trauma rooms. “I saw car accident victims coming in, their faces broken, their chests ripped open on stretchers, paramedics, everywhere, police everywhere. It’s controlled chaos and how they control it. I don’t know, but they saved my life,” Hoard said.
