Bell: Stampede bartender's sob story of drunks and long hours — gimme a break
It's not often I take on one of our own stories.
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In the Woe Is Me file this one goes right to the top of the pathetic pile.
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A bartender signs up to work during the Calgary Stampede, at one of the tents that pop up around town.
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You see, there are stories to tell. Stories where wrongs need to be made right.
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There are also stories that are just interesting or entertaining. They might make you laugh or make you cry or make you laugh and cry.
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Or think. Or feel.
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There are other stories providing you with news you can use.
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This is not one of any of these stories.
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This bartender story is what was once called a sob story. It is an open invitation to a pity party.
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It is self-indulgent crap in an age of self-indulgent crap.
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Here goes.
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This story tells us this bartender believes drinking around Stampede contributes to deteriorating mental health.
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Quite the statement to make when she is the one serving the drinks and no doubt getting a pretty penny for doing so, driving all the way from Edmonton to take the job.
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As the days go on she says people get more aggressive and demanding, even hostile.
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What she means by this is not explained.
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Having hit the bottle hard in my day and patronized far too many watering holes there isn't much you don't see with alcohol in the mix.
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Thank you, Captain Obvious.
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Enter a scientific study in a medical journal. It shows a spike in emergency visits during Stampede time by men and an increase in substance misuse cases.
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The study was from about 10 years ago and was done so emergency rooms could know how much they should staff up during Stampede.
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Edmonton Journal
4 days ago
- Edmonton Journal
Bell: Stampede bartender's sob story of drunks and long hours — gimme a break
Article content It's not often I take on one of our own stories. Article content Article content In the Woe Is Me file this one goes right to the top of the pathetic pile. Article content A bartender signs up to work during the Calgary Stampede, at one of the tents that pop up around town. Article content Article content You see, there are stories to tell. Stories where wrongs need to be made right. Article content There are also stories that are just interesting or entertaining. They might make you laugh or make you cry or make you laugh and cry. Article content Or think. Or feel. Article content There are other stories providing you with news you can use. Article content This is not one of any of these stories. Article content This bartender story is what was once called a sob story. It is an open invitation to a pity party. Article content It is self-indulgent crap in an age of self-indulgent crap. Article content Here goes. Article content This story tells us this bartender believes drinking around Stampede contributes to deteriorating mental health. Article content Article content Quite the statement to make when she is the one serving the drinks and no doubt getting a pretty penny for doing so, driving all the way from Edmonton to take the job. Article content As the days go on she says people get more aggressive and demanding, even hostile. Article content What she means by this is not explained. Article content Having hit the bottle hard in my day and patronized far too many watering holes there isn't much you don't see with alcohol in the mix. Article content Article content Thank you, Captain Obvious. Article content Enter a scientific study in a medical journal. It shows a spike in emergency visits during Stampede time by men and an increase in substance misuse cases. Article content The study was from about 10 years ago and was done so emergency rooms could know how much they should staff up during Stampede.
Calgary Herald
6 days ago
- Calgary Herald
Stampede bartender says 'I'm never going to do it again' as mental health impacts linger around the city
Post-Stampede enrollment at the Calgary Counselling Centre is similar in many ways to enrollment after December holidays. As the chaos of cowboy carousing begins to ebb, and life returns to normal, people's minds are given leeway to drift towards their own mental health needs. Article content Kelly Hanasyk thinks the drinking culture around Stampede might creating the need for mental health support. She was on the Stampede's front lines, having driven from her home in Edmonton to bartend in one of the numerous party tent pop ups around the city for the full ten day run. She documented the experience on Tiktok, with one video garnering more than 1.9-million views. Article content Article content Article content She said she saw a clear degradation in the public over the course of her time behind a bar. By the second weekend, guests were more aggressive and demanding, and at times outright hostile. Article content Article content A three-year long study published in the Canadian Journal for Emergency Medicine found that during the course of the Stampede, emergency departments saw a 24 per cent increase in the diagnosis of substance misuse. The study found a general increase in emergency visits, with a sharper spike in visits at nighttime, and by men. Article content Sarah Rosenfeld is the associate director of counselling initiatives at the Calgary Counselling Centre. She said the key to navigating any event that has such an emphasis on consumption healthily, is to build out a support group of peers, who can check in with each other despite the pressure to participate. Article content Article content 'We kind of have a collective responsibility, in my opinion, to be able to look after one another, but we also need to be able to have the skills and knowledge to be able to navigate some of those more difficult situations because it can be hard to have those conversations, right? It can be hard to support people in the way that you think they might need to be helped,' Rosenfeld said. Article content Hanasyk said that those working around the city were particularly vulnerable to the Stampede wear and tear, due to incredibly long working hours. She said that multiple employees worked shifts longer than 20 hours straight, pushed by an ambiguity around the gratuity that they were owed at end of the night. With much of the income being dispersed in cash, she said it was impossible to know if you were being equally compensated unless you were there in person. Article content 'You're you're trying to manage competing priorities, right? So I think for some folks, that's a source of income as well that they wouldn't otherwise have access to,' Rosenfeld said.
14-07-2025
Alberta's measles outbreaks surpass case counts reported for entire U.S.
Alberta has now confirmed more measles cases than the entire United States has reported this year. The province has been battling outbreaks since March and as of noon Monday, total case counts in the province had ballooned to 1,314. The latest update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (new window) shows that country has amassed 1,288 cases this year. Looking at the numbers it saddens me, said Dr. Sam Wong, the president of the section of pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association. I think if we had gotten to it sooner — and taken it more seriously sooner — then maybe we would not have reached this milestone where one province actually exceeds the entire case count for the United States, which has got 10 times the population as Canada. Thirty new cases were reported between midday Friday and noon Monday. It's absolutely terrible, said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist with the University of Alberta. It is really a massive scale of spread that's going on right now. It is widely believed by experts and health officials that Alberta's case counts are higher than the confirmed numbers reflect. A standing exposure advisory remains in effect for the entire south zone and parts of the north due to widespread transmission. And the Alberta government's measles website (new window) says cases are likely going unreported and undetected. Saxinger worries about the impact of large summer gatherings such as the Calgary Stampede, which just ended on Sunday. I don't think we've seen a suggestion of things levelling off and now there's large meetings of people and after that school will be back in. So I think there's still a period of serious vulnerability to increasing numbers for a while, said Saxinger. As an infectious diseases specialist I never would have guessed this was going to happen because measles is supposed to be eradicated. The south, north and central health zones have been the hardest hit by outbreaks. According to provincial data (new window) , there had been 102 hospitalizations, including 15 ICU admissions, as of July 5. No deaths have been reported. The latest national statistics (new window) shows 58 per cent of the new cases reported during the week of June 22 to June 28 were in Alberta. We know that per capita we have more measles cases in Alberta than really anywhere else in North America, said Craig Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary. We have heard stories that there may be underreporting in the U.S. but even the fact that we're close to those numbers is quite concerning given we have almost a hundredth the population. Enlarge image (new window) Craig Jenne is a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary. He's also the deputy director of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. Photo: Fournie par Craig Jenne Transmission rate The latest case breakdown shows there have been a total of 774 cases in the south zone, 35 in Calgary zone, 107 in central zone, 13 in the Edmonton zone and 385 in the north. Perhaps the more concerning aspect, at least for me, is not the total number of cases, it's how quickly we've gotten here, said Jenne, who is also the deputy director of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. Alberta's measles outbreaks have snowballed more quickly than Ontario's, which started in October, according to Jenne. That province, which has three times the population of Alberta, had confirmed 1,934 as of July 8, with another 310 probable cases. It is growing much more rapidly here…[The] rate of transmission is very concerning. Mass immunization clinics Measles is highly contagious and can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia, brain inflammation, premature delivery and even death. Young children, pregnant individuals and those with weakened immune systems are at highest risk. I'm really afraid that we're going to see terrible outcomes in babies and kids under five because that's the most vulnerable group across the board, said Saxinger. She's calling on the provincial government to take key steps to rein in the outbreaks, including setting up mass vaccination clinics and campaigns. I think there can be a lot of unintended barriers for people who even want to get their vaccines updated…It can be really hard to book actually getting it, she said. Saxinger also wants the province to target school-aged children for vaccination before they head back to school in the fall. And, like other physicians, Saxinger is calling on the province to offer an early and extra vaccine dose to babies as young as six months old in all regions. The extra shot is only being offered in the south, central and north zones. CBC News asked the government for a response but did not immediately hear back. Pregnant Albertans, who are at high risk as well, need to know they should seek help if they've potentially been exposed, according to Saxinger, and vaccine messaging in general needs to be improved. I think it really has to be a big priority for elected officials to remind people, because not everyone watches the news [and] not everyone gets the same information. Jennifer Lee (new window) · CBC News · Reporter Jennifer Lee is a CBC News reporter based in Calgary. She worked at CBC Toronto, Saskatoon and Regina before landing in Calgary in 2002. If you have a health or human interest story to share, let her know.
