Last Thursday, Helen Guillot, a health-care worker at Sudbury’s Health Sciences North, asked her team if they wanted to pitch in to enter the Ontario hospital’s 50/50 draw.
Guillot, who as a clinician in the respiratory care unit meets the pandemic head on every day, had been buying 50/50 tickets for herself in the past few months, but decided to ask her colleagues in the COVID-19 unit (6 South) if they’d like to join.
Nineteen people ended up putting $20 each into the pot, never expecting to win the over $585,000 jackpot.
When the team got the news, they couldn’t believe their luck, Guillot said.
Krista Belshaw Merrick, a nurse clinician, said she was joking with Guillot right before they got the call.
“She said, ‘I think we are going to get it in about an hour if we win.’ I said, ‘OK, make sure you let me know.'”
“About five minutes after that, my door flung open and she was on the phone. I looked at her and she flipped the phone around so I could see her screen, and it said HSN hospital on it. At that moment, everybody was screaming and jumping, and it was awesome,” Belshaw Merrick said.
‘Everyone was just so happy’
Belshaw Merrick said the reaction from the team was complete shock, thrill and excitement.
“Even from people who weren’t in on it, everyone was just so happy that, you know, 6 South won the 50/50.”
The total winnings were $585,473, a little over $30,000 for each worker.
Belshaw Merrick said she’s so happy her team is getting a boost at this difficult time, and is also able to experience the good news together and share the moment.
“This group of people on 6 South are unreal,” she said. “They are so strong and so dedicated to this work, we wouldn’t be where we are without that time because it’s been tough.”
Belshaw Merrick said the happy news is still sinking in and they’re all trying to figure out what to do with the money.
“Everybody was shocked because everybody, of course, the first question is, ‘What are you doing with your money?’ Nobody even could comprehend that they even had won this money,” she said.
“So I don’t know yet if everybody has a plan. I know some people are excited to add it to their maybe slightly sooner retirement for those nurses and other staff who are closer to retirement.”
Morning North6:4319 hospital staffers win 50/50 jackpot of more than $500,000
Some 19 health care workers in the respiratory care unit at Health Sciences North in Sudbury have found a reason to celebrate during challenging times—their ticket to the hospital’s 50/50 draw was a winner and earned them $585,472 to split 19 ways. Winner Krista Belshaw Merrick explains what the win means for her and her colleagues. 6:43