IAWP at the Olympics

James Journey - Part 2

If you ask me, Myra's smile says it all. She is enjoying her work, making new friends, connecting with old friends, and taking in the Olympic experience.

The photo is Myra and the Venue Transportation Management team.

Here is her latest update from Vancouver:

Just prior to Christmas I was busy in the VANOC offices with learning multiple computer programs for scheduling volunteers, preparing venue specific training presentations, review of various documents such as venue security profiles, street closures, Olympic Family Hotel protocols and many other must know issues. The learning curve has been significant not to mention the need to retain all this new information.

I had some time off around Christmas during which time I traveled over to the island (Chemainus) area. I enjoyed Christmas with my family. I went back to the VANOC offices to work on the 31st, 1st and 2nd.

Two new staff members started on my team on the 4th and as you can imagine, I took them under my wing and assisted in orientation & training. One is from Adelaide, Australia and the other a local woman from Vancouver who used to be a cop. She is Asian and has introduced our team to some fine places to eat in the Asian community.

Our team drove the sea to sky corridor as it’s called, on our way to Whistler this past week as we had meetings at the Hilton which is the official Paralympic Hotel for the games in March. It looks as though I’ll be deployed to Whistler for the Paralympics and I’m thrilled about it as the experience will nicely enhance the whole Olympic adventure for me. My role as Assistant Venue Transportation Manager will be similar there as it is for the Olympics.

I attended the Pacific National Exhibition buildings on Thursday to pick up my official accreditation and uniform. This is the same facility that all VANOC staff and volunteers go for their issued items. The whole process takes about 90 minutes however I suspect as games times fast approach, the line ups will be much longer and process extended. Over 25,000 volunteers and an equal quantity of VANOC staff will be processed there.

Multiple meetings are another interesting topic. I’ve been for more meetings in the last month than I have in a year of OWLE, IAWP, HPS and Rotary meetings. Some days, we just go from one meeting to another. The agendas relate to volunteer/staff performance issues, food and beverage, scheduling, accreditation designations, road closures just to name a few.

This past week we were issued VANOC vehicles for use until the end of the Paralympics. GM has provided over 4,600 vehicles such as trucks, sport utility vehicles and cross over vehicles. All are 2010 vehicles, and I’ve been issued a Buick Enclave fully loaded. Fortunately I will have a designated parking spot at my venue however most staff at other venues will have to park a significant distance away.

On a personal note, I have enjoyed evening walks and runs in and around the Kitsilano Beach area which was only about a mile from where I was living up until January 9th. Now I have been enjoying some wonderful evening laughs with Marg and Dave Shorter, which is where I am currently staying in North Delta. I am now commuting on the Sky Train which did initially have it's own challenges. It's taking a bit of getting used to as far as coping with the constant rain that we get out here.

I’ve kept in touch with the Ontario Women In Law Enforcement executive regularly as this is my last couple months as President and the board election is in progress. I’ve been on the board for 12 years and will now transition to the Board of Trustees as Immediate Past President.


It’s been an amazing journey so far and as each day passes and the games draw closer, the excitement escalates!!!!!