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Airdrie Health Foundation's Michelle Bates honoured with Queen's Platinum Jubilee Award

"To get an award like this, it’s shocking. It kind of shows how much your work is actually impacting other people.”
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Michelle Bates (middle) received the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Award on Sept. 24, during the Airdrie Health Foundation's Light Up The Night Gala fundraiser.

The Airdrie Health Foundation’s executive director Michelle Bates was the second Airdrie resident to receive a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award last week, following in the footsteps of long-time community volunteer Wendy Contant on Sept. 21.

Bates was surprised and shocked when she learned about the accolade during the health foundation’s Light Up The Night Gala on Sept. 24. The award was presented on behalf of Banff-Airdrie Member of Parliament Blake Richards.

“Michelle’s dedication to serving Airdrie, and our surrounding area, through her work with the Airdrie Health Foundation is inspirational, and frankly it’s emotionally moving,” said Richards in a streamed video address. “This is an award that is given out to citizens of Canada who display outstanding service to their community and to its residents. There’s no doubt in my mind that Michelle exemplifies this award through all of her work with the Airdrie Health Foundation.

“Michelle has turned what was a very tragic situation for her and her family into triumph, and she’s just getting started.”

Reached after the gala, Bates said she was “shocked” to receive the award, which were created to celebrate the 70th year of the late Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The awards are representative of the Queen’s lifelong commitment to service, and are distributed by MPs to deserving members of their constituencies.

“I have this passion to get adequate health care in Airdrie,” Bates said. “I know how the community impacts how things go: the more you advocate, the more you push and put the heat on, the [more] things change.”

The Airdrie Health Foundation formed after Bates’ five-year-old son Lane tragically died after falling ill in December 2009. Without 24-hour access to emergency care in Airdrie at the time, Bates and her husband made the fateful decision to wait until morning to take their son to their family doctor. Lane passed away before the doctor’s office opened, propelling Bates into becoming an advocate for improved access to health-care services in Airdrie.

After forming the Airdrie Health Foundation, Bates lobbied government to bring 24-hour urgent care to Airdrie – a feat that was finally accomplished in 2017.

“Having our personal story makes it even more real for a lot of the partners and stakeholders,” she said. “It’s really important to keep doing that, even though it’s pretty emotionally hard. You keep doing your thing because I have two little girls at home who need medical care when they need it.

“We’ve already experienced what happens when you don’t have medical care. To see other people recognize it, you don’t always hear that back. To get an award like this, it’s shocking. It kind of shows how much your work is actually impacting other people.”

While Bates and the rest of the foundation have been fighting the good fight for over a dozen years now, she agreed 2022 has been a particularly tumultuous year for health-care related developments in Airdrie. A lack of ambulance availability has continued to plague the community, while this past summer, the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre was forced to close temporarily overnight during the weekends, as a result of staff shortages.

Bates noted issues like a lack of local ambulance coverage and staff shortages at the Urgent Care Centre are all inter-connected in the web of health care.

“Airdrie has very much been overseen in all those aspects so it’s very important people keep fighting the good fight,” she said. “COVID hitting really showed strains and cracks. We’re just trying to help get through that and support the staff we work with at the health centre.”

Gala success

Bates' award presentation came during the Airdrie Health Foundation’s biggest annual fundraiser of the year on Sept. 24 – its annual Light Up The Night Gala.

According to Bates, the gala was a resounding success this year. More than 250 people attended the formal shindig at Genesis Place Recreation Centre, and the night was christened with an anonymous $300,000 donation to support the foundation’s future endeavours. She said the total donations raised during the gala will be known later this week.

At the same time, last week’s Tim Horton’s Smile Cookie campaign in Airdrie supported the foundation as well, with 100 per cent of proceeds from the $1 cookies going to support the organization. While the final tally of funds raised won’t likely be known until October, Bates said $24,000 worth of cookies were sold within the first three days of the week-long campaign.

“We’re pretty confident we’ll beat last year’s numbers, which was just over $40,000,” she said.

For those wanting to support the Airdrie Health Foundation, Bates noted the foundation is currently running a raffle contest in partnership with Cam Clark Ford. The winning prize is a 2022 Bronco Sport valued above $52,000.

Tickets are available at airdriehealthfoundation.com. The draw date is Dec. 12, and the deadline to purchase tickets is Dec. 11.

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