VICTORIA A nurse and respiratory therapist at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) have turned to the Pacific Ocean to wash away the stress of their jobs during this pandemic. Since September, Lizzy Hannah and Gina Villares-Talbot have been soaking themselves in the chilly waters of Departure Bay in Nanaimo, and they say it has done wonders for their mental health. “Being in the cold water, you are so present. All you can think about is the cold, your body and thoughts are quiet,” said Hannah, an ICU nurse at NRGH. “You can t think of the stress that’s coming tomorrow. You have to focus on the now,” added Villares-Talbot, a respiratory therapist at NRGH.
A health-care worker who once found the waters off Hawaii cold is now prescribing early-morning dips in Departure Bay as a way to improve one’s mental health. Gina Villares-Talbot, a respiratory. . .