Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the beat goes on for an Indigenous drum group that meets outside the University Hospital of Northern B.C. (UHNBC) in Prince George.
Masked and at a distance, the group gathers every Monday evening to sing traditional songs and prayers as a show of support for the health-care workers and COVID-19 patients inside.
It started with one Prince George man during the first wave of the pandemic and has transformed into a community affair. Almost 700 days later, there are no plans to stop or even signs of fatigue.
“We got through these two years with perseverance, unity, love, the heartbeats of the drums, and the continuation of people coming in and out of our group,” said group founder Wesley Mitchell. “We are a group with huge hearts.”
“If it’s two years again or more, we will still be there.”
Mitchell, a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s Tsayu (Beaver) clan, started the tradition on March 26, 2020 after being inspired by the nightly cheer for health-care workers that spread through cities across B.C.
Simply not satisfied with clanging pots and pans, he brought his drum to the hospital instead, and sang outside for 47 days in a row in rain, shine, or 32 degrees below zero.
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Soon, he was joined by a cast of dozens of Prince George residents and members of communities from across Northern B.C.
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Patients and staff who would otherwise be isolated were able to watch the group outside from hospital beds. Some connect with the group after recovering, and many even choose to join in.
Mary Carlson spent six days in UHNBC with COVID-19 in December 2020, and remembers watching and listening from her second floor window.
“The only way I can describe it is, through double-paned glass, you can hear the power of the drums they play right into your bones,” recalled Carlson, who now drums with the group.
“I started to cry. You feel that overwhelming sense that someone is out there, you feel like they are just drumming for you.”
Others, like Harry Good, heard the drummers before they saw them.
Good spent a week in critical care with COVID-19 in November 2020 — he was eventually put into a medically induced coma — and says doctors have told him he’s lucky to be alive.
“When I first heard the drums, I wasn’t able to go to the window. I was too weak, because my oxygen was so low. Then they put me under, and when I woke up I heard it again,” said Good.
“It was nice to know someone was on the outside caring for everyone on the inside. It felt warming and comforting and homey. I was able to relate to it.”
As someone with a history of addiction now five years in recovery, Mitchell says drumming has become a healing experience in his own life, and he has found a sense of purpose helping others.
“The drum saved my life. It just made sense to continue to show what was shown to me,” said Mitchell.
“To be a part of these people’s journey when they are at one of the toughest points in their life, it’s amazing,” said Mitchell.
Not limiting themselves to UHNBC alone, the drummers can also be found outside long-term care homes dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks, at community events and anywhere else support might be needed.
Mitchell and the City of Prince George are working together to plan a ceremony for health-care workers outside UHNBC every year on March 26.
“It’s a form of prayer, it’s a heartbeat,” he explained.
“That beat will continue, till the pandemic is over. Even after that, once a year, we’re going to have that memory. We’ll have that day to honour.”
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