WINNIPEG Reagan Takeuchi and her partner have been the proud owners of Millie, a golden retriever mix, for about one year. The dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic played a big role in their decision to get a pet. “We both figured out that we were going to be working from home, so we knew we had the time and attention to spend on a new pup,” said Takeuchi. It’s not exactly a unique experience. Plenty of Manitobans became pet owners during the pandemic. “I can honestly say in the thirty years (of the shelter), I’ve never seen empty cages in the way that we had (at the start of the pandemic),” said Carla Martinelli-Irvine, founder and executive director of the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter.
WINNIPEG A Manitoba woman whose career as a dentist, researcher and scholar has spanned decades is ready to come out of retirement to help people get a vaccine to protect against COVID-19. In an interview with CTV News Winnipeg outside her home near Gimli, Man., Olva Odlum, 81, said she wants to make sure the province has enough personnel to successfully deliver what’s been described as an unprecedented immunization campaign. “I think it’s so important to encourage people because there’s going to be a huge shortage of personnel in this program,” said Odlum. Despite being in an at-risk age group for severe illness from COVID-19, Odlum is raring to get back on the frontlines.