CFL official helping families in job as nurse
Patrick MacArthur does a lot of thinking about families these days; the health and safety of his own in Edmonton, the emotional struggle of those he sees during shifts as a nurse on a neonatal intensive care unit, and the well-being of his Canadian Football League brethren.
MacArthur, 53, has worked as a registered nurse since 2000 and has been a CFL official since 2010. He’s an umpire who has worked more than 170 games, including four Grey Cups, the most recent in 2019.
To date, his work in the NICU at The Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton hasn’t involved cases of COVID-19, and for that he’s truly thankful. He wears PPE gear, including a tight-fitting N95 mask that irritates and bruises his face; wears gloves and washes his hands often, and changes out of his clothes as soon as he enters his home after each 12-hour shift at the hospital. So far, he has remained healthy, and so too has his family, which includes 16-year-old son Cullen.
“The stress I’m having is, if I do contract the disease, is bringing it home to my family,” said MacArthur. “I have a son who suffered from bronchitis, so he’s very susceptible to respiratory infections. I’m not overly concerned if I get it, I’m pretty healthy and I think I might be able to fight it. But I’m more worried about bringing it home to him.”
He’s concerned, too, for the families whose children are in the hospital for life-changing or life-saving surgeries. In an effort to flatten the curve, Alberta Health Services policy now restricts visitation to just one parent at a time, and no extended family such as siblings or grandparents.
“To me, that’s one of the toughest things we’re seeing. We’re their coping group now because they don’t have the extra bodies around them. At the hospital, they’re in there with the nurses, and I work with a wonderful bunch of people, wonderful nurses who are very empathetic and caring, and it’s nice to see them take on the family role when the family can’t be there.”
When MacArthur is at home for his normal stretch of four consecutive days off, he runs on his own to stay in shape for his officiating job, and checks in with his extended CFL family to make sure they’re navigating the new normal as best they can. He also gets weekly email updates from CFL associate vice-president of officiating Darren Hackwood.
“We’re tight here in Edmonton,” said MacArthur, who worked his first CFL pre-season game a decade ago at Commonwealth Stadium as part of referee Bud Steen’s crew. “We do try to talk on the phone, once or twice a week, just to make sure everyone’s spirits are up.”
MacArthur gravitated toward officiating after playing the game as a linebacker, then coaching the Edmonton Chargers, a minor football team. He said he thought he knew the game well enough, but as he started down the officiating path beginning in 1998, his eyes were quickly opened to all the rules he didn’t understand.
“You listen to these veteran officials talk about football and it takes it to a different level that I hadn’t experienced before.”
CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie has already announced the 81-game regular season won’t start as scheduled on June 11, after city councils in Toronto and Calgary banned public events through June 30.
Though the league hopes to play at least a reduced schedule, there’s a chance the lingering pandemic will wipe out the entire 2020 campaign. If that’s the case, MacArthur would certainly miss his fellow crew members and the mostly good-natured banter he enjoys with CFL players. dbarnes@postmedia.com Twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes