You Can Now Rep Your Provincial Health Heroes With A T-Shirt
Just because we're staying home doesn't mean we should be any less fashionable. T-shirts featuring our favourite health superwomen are now up for sale. The B.C. and Alberta Health Hero t-shirts feature Dr. Bonnie Henry of B.C., Dr. Deena Hinshaw of Alberta, and Dr. Theresa Tham of Ontario, so you can make sure your style is as relevant as it is trendy.
Many of you might recognize these women by name, many of you might be able to identify them by looking at them, and a few of you might even have fan accounts in their honour. Yes, that's a thing.
All in all, there is no denying that our provinces' top health officers have become full-blown celebrities amid the pandemic.
Day after day, we tune into their press conferences, listen closely to their announcements, instructions, and assurances, and find ourselves becoming fans of them, both as professionals and people.
Now, you can truly share your adoration for these women's endeavours by buying t-shirts featuring their awesome portraits.
The portraits were designed by Calgary artist Mandy Stobo, who had initially designed a portrait of Alberta's chief medical officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
She'd posted the single portrait on Instagram over four days ago, thanking Dr. Hinshaw for "handling the unknown with grace, integrity and such leadership." At the time, she made the drawing available to anyone that wanted it.
But since then, she has collaborated with e-commerce fashion retailers Sophie Grace and Madame Premier to launch two t-shirts featuring new portraits: Dr. Bonnie Henry, the chief medical officer of B.C., and Dr. Theresa Tham, the chief public health officer of Canada.
The t-shirts featuring the three medical icons are now available for purchase at the Madame Premier and Sophie Grace websites.
Be aware that if you do want to get your hands on these threads, you need to be quick, as the collection is limited.
The proceeds from the sales will go to food banks in three different cities across the country: Greater Vancouver Food Bank; Fresh Routes, in Calgary; and Second Harvest, in Toronto. The t-shirts are listed at $45 each on both websites.
Stobo has made the designs available on her website so that anyone can download the images.
There are also colouring pages available, so you can keep working on your art skills while practicing social distancing measures.
In addition to those of the three top health officers, Stobo has also put up black-and-white portraits of the Calgary Foodbank Managers, so there are more local heroes you can celebrate during this time. You can check out all the downloadable drawings here.
So if you want to order a colourful t-shirt to pay tribute to the health officials that continue to guide us through the latest developments, now is your chance. But they're selling out fast, so you will have to jump on the train quickly.
Note that the COVID-19 pandemic may also cause delays in shipping.
And if that's not enough and you want a portrait of a special hero in your life, Mandy Stobo is also taking requests for nominations for custom portraits, which she revealed in an Instagram post.
Who says art can't flourish during a public health crisis?
