Simon Luong

Team Lead, BCAA Cambie Village Service Location

#StayHome crew: Wife and kids aged 5 and 3
Home base: Two-bedroom condo in Richmond
Wellness savers: Bike rides, walks, FaceTime play dates for the kids
Life lesson learned: Siblings are the best playmates

With two young children and another on the way, Simon Luong and his wife knew they were going to have a busy spring. Then along came the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The challenge right now is, there are no more breaks for us,” Simon said in April, when he was working part-time from home, and part-time in the BCAA Cambie Village Service Location (which closed to the public but stayed active for employees providing essential services to customers over the phone). His wife, a Grade 2 and 3 teacher, taught lessons from home on Zoom.

“During my lunch break, I’m making the kids lunch. On my 15-minute break I’m checking: OK, what are you guys doing – are you driving mom mad?” he said, laughing. Luckily, their daughters coped well. “They have a play friend in each other, so [staying home] doesn’t seem to be disrupting them,” he said. “Their spirits are pretty high.”

Another bright spot for him was helping BCAA Members and customers over the phone: “I’m amazed at how positive everyone is – generally people are very happy with us, so spirits are relatively high with my colleagues, too.”

Darshan Andrews

BCAA Senior Member Experience Representative, Road Assist

#StayHome crew: 19-year-old daughter
Home base: Two-bedroom condo in Maple Ridge
Wellness savers: Making ear protectors for local hospitals, gardening, social media
Life lesson learned: Co-workers are a social lifeline

When her daughter moved across the country to attend the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax last year, Darshan turned her condo’s second bedroom into an office. She had just gotten the all-clear from BCAA to work full-time from home when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I’m fortunate in that I already had everything ready to go,” she said.

Then the universities shut down, and her daughter, Maddie, flew home. From then on, the two had to time-share the office space. “She sleeps in the room and then gets up and moves to my room when I start at 5 a.m.,” said Darshan.

Darshan’s two other daughters, aged 12 and 15, stayed with their father and stepmother during the shutdown. To stay connected, they all did physically distanced driveway visits, FaceTime and Snapchat. But it was hard. “I’m a very social person, so it’s killing me not to be around all of the people I love,” said Darshan at the time.

Sewing ear savers for local healthcare workers, and connecting with family and friends through apps and social media, helped her stay positive.

“I’m finding I’m talking more with people I don’t usually get a chance to chat with,” she said. That included co-workers: “Within our teams, I think we’ve gotten closer through this. I think it has really encouraged teamwork, compassion and care.”

Erin Tarampi

BCAA Senior Associate Marketing Manager

#StayHome crew: Husband and kids aged 7 and 9, plus sister and kids aged 1 and 5
Home base: Detached house in Coquitlam
Wellness savers: Multi-family dinners, cousin playtime, quiet moments
Life lesson learned: It takes a village

With seven people under one roof during the shutdown, you’d think Erin Tarampi and her family would have been overcrowded. Instead, they felt lucky that her sister had moved into their basement suite last summer with her two little ones.

“It could easily have been my husband and I living together, working and driving each other crazy,” said Erin in April. “But having my sister, with whom we both get along wonderfully, changes the dynamic.”

The kids entertained each other, and there were three parents on hand to share in the child care. “We’re all managing by helping each other balance as best we can,” said Erin. She and her husband Ryan, a project manager, used an office in their attic, while her sister worked downstairs. Having so many people around could be overwhelming, so small mental-health moments were key: even just sitting alone in a bedroom with a salt lamp for a few minutes, doing a yoga video or Zooming with girlfriends.

Without fail, the household crew got together to bang pots and pans in honour of healthcare workers at 7 p.m., along with families across the province. It was a great distraction from worrying about an uncertain future, said Erin: “For now we’re trying to focus on being grateful for the situation we’re in.”

Doriana Pandyra

Service Advisor, BCAA Surrey Service Location

#StayHome crew: Husband and kids aged 2 and 4
Home base: Townhouse in Langley
Wellness savers: Dancing, YouTube yoga videos, riding bikes
Life lesson learned: One day at a time

Fresh air was the Pandyra family’s saving grace during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On days when we don’t get outside, everybody’s mood is sort of blah,” said Doriana. “If the kids get sucked into too much tablet or screen, it devolves into cranky chaos. And for my husband, working from home, [in the basement office] the challenge is turning it off. Sometimes he just gets sucked in and he’s down there forever.”

During the pandemic shutdown, Doriana worked part-time in BCAA’s Surrey Service Location (closed to the public but active for employees providing essential services to customers on the phone). Her husband Mike, a web developer, worked from home. On her office days, the kids went to “daycare” at their grandparents’ places. On her days off, she spent most of her time focused on keeping everyone quiet for dad’s meetings – or keeping them busy with activities like dancing, yoga, cycling and watching movies in a makeshift home theatre.

“It’s interesting because there are some days when it’s all hunky-dory, and then some you wake up and the scope of everything just comes to the forefront of your mind, and you think, oh, I’m missing out on this, and the kids are missing out on that,” she said. “So we’re taking it one day at a time.”

Nicole Walker

BCAA Senior Insurance Advisor

#StayHome crew: Husband and 11-year-old daughter
Home base: Detached house in Victoria
Wellness savers: Listening to music, cycling, trampoline sessions, Wii Fit
Life lesson learned: Teachers are amazing

“It’s a kid’s dream come true, but a parent’s nightmare,” joked Nicole about the pandemic shutdown that had her working from home and home-schooling her 11-year-old daughter.

“I don’t mind getting out of bed, grabbing coffee and walking to my computer to start my day,” she said of her morning ritual. “But being home with my daughter, day in and day out, while trying to work is very challenging. And not having that routine of getting dressed up to go to the office and interact with co-workers – I definitely miss seeing the folks I work with.”

Home-schooling proved challenging, too. “My daughter needs to be doing two to three hours of school work each day and needs help,” she said. “Math was my worst subject in school. Thankfully, my husband is a math whiz.” Her husband, Paul, is also a Canada Post carrier, who was out on the pandemic frontlines, delivering mail daily.

It helped them to know the situation was, ultimately, temporary. “I just keep thinking to myself that I know this is going to end one day,” she said.