‘A WAVE GOES A LONG WAY’

RYAN ROYAL

CITY OF SASKATOON WASTE MANAGEMENT

In his eight years working in waste management picking up people’s garbage in Saskatoon, Ryan Royal can’t recall ever receiving as much praise as he has during the pandemic.

“The public, when we’re out there doing our job it’s nice to have them come up to us and say, ‘We appreciate what you’re doing and you’re doing a really great job.’ A wave goes a long way — even a smile or a ‘hello.’ It encourages people during these times. I know people are feeling anxious or depressed. When we see (that kindness), it lifts our spirits and encourages us.”

STEPHANIE DIGNESS CO-OP

Every half-hour, Co-op courtesy clerk Stephanie Digness sanitizes bathrooms, railings, door handles and other high-touch surfaces. She also spends her mornings tracking how many people are in the store to guard against overcrowding. She says she was very overwhelmed at first, but got used to the routine.

“I was pretty proud (to be a front line worker), but it was scary — the panic on people’s faces. Fear. I’m still frightened, but I’m so used to it now. We just do our social distancing and everything’s fine ... The customers will see us sanitizing carts and they’ll say ‘thank you.’ It feels good.”

MEGAN KUZNITSOFF DOWNTOWN YXE

Megan Kuznitsoff spends her shifts disinfecting as much as she can: Wiping door handles, bus stops, benches and hand rails.

“We write personal journals of where we’ve been in case an outbreak happens,” she says. “In some respects the workload is less because there are less people, but you have to be more diligent. There was an older man who approached me and thanked me for what I was doing and thanked me for being a front line worker and asked if I was getting paid more because I was putting myself in danger, so that was nice.”

JARED LEIER

SASKATOON FIRE AND RESCUE

Jared Leier had only started work as a firefighter a few months before the pandemic hit.

“It was crazy because when you’re going to school you prepare for all the medical calls and fires you’ll have to go into and then this is something that blindsides you. But our management was great from the get-go keeping us well informed.”

Leier says these days the job involves constantly cleaning the hall and disinfecting the trucks. Everything is decontaminated after calls.

VANESSA MESKOLZI HOLYCROSSHIGHSCHOOL

When schools shut down in March due to COVID-19, Vanessa Meskolzi jumped into action.

The building operator at Holy Cross High School says she and her staff began disinfecting right away.

“Wipe door handles, wipe light switches. Wherever teachers had been, wipe their desks. We went into some of the book rooms and wiped down every textbook that was there. The gym rooms, balls, skipping rooms, everything. Every table, every chair — anything that you touch, we have to wipe.”

AFZAL MEHMOOD SASKATOON TRANSIT

When the pandemic struck, Afzal Mehmood’s work as an Access Transit driver dried up because people weren’t booking rides. So he volunteered to clean the interior of Saskatoon Transit buses. He cleans one bus a day, removing gum and mud and sanitizing all touch points.

“We work from our heart. It’s part of our job. Public service — that’s why we try to clean. We see the response from the dispatch. I listen to the radio — some of our customers sit and say to the bus driver ‘Oh, this bus is so clean!’ It feels good and that’s why I work hard,” he says.