Tributes pour in for nurse from B.C. killed in avalanche
VANCOUVER — Friends and family are describing a Vancouver nurse killed in an avalanche Tuesday in Nepal as always being there for the children and families she cared for at the cardiology department of B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Tributes poured in on social media Friday after the B.C. Children’s Heart Network posted a statement Thursday on Facebook confirming that 55-year-old Jan Rooks was one of at least 29 people who died in Nepalese avalanches and blizzards. Four Canadians are confirmed dead, three from Quebec and one from Vancouver. But there are others still missing.
The statement said Rooks and her husband Grant Tomlinson “shared a love of the natural world and loved trekking in mountains all over the world.” She had been anticipating her trip to the Himalayas and left for Nepal in late September with Tomlinson and friends Stella Cockett and her husband Paul Cech.
Tomlinson, Cockett and Cech survived and are still in Nepal, according to the statement.
It described Rooks as a great nurse with “a very special love of heart children and families,” and said she had a special gift for putting people at ease in the most difficult situations and giving comfort to children and families during times when they needed it most.
“It seems impossible that someone like Jan can be gone from our lives in the blink of an eye. She will be so sadly missed.”
A spokeswoman for B.C. Children’s Hospital said Friday that staff were in contact with Rooks’ husband but that there would be no further comment at the family’s request.