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Capital Daily for Tuesday, August 4

TuesdayTuesday, August 4
    Culture

    A cultural centre for Black Victoria opened in a former 7-Eleven on Douglas

    AI-generated illustration

    A community centre for Black arts and culture opened Saturday at 1327 Douglas St., in a former 7-Eleven renovated over the past year.

    Black & Here Community Centre sits on a street named after Sir James Douglas, B.C.'s founding governor, who was born in Guyana to a mother of African and European ancestry. Its founders call that fitting. The space has an open floor, a stage, benches and a reception area, plus a mural on one wall led by two local artists with work from children and families.

    It's a collaboration between the British Columbia Black History Awareness Society and REP Here in Canada. The building's owner, Odd Fellows Columbia Lodge, offered free rent and helped with the renovations.

    Barbara Hudlin, whose ancestors arrived in Victoria in 1858 among roughly 800 Black families fleeing persecution in San Francisco, is the centre's Black elder. She said a place like this could have helped her as a child growing up here.

    Civic

    One shock from an AED brought Skye Maynard back. Her friend kept her alive until it arrived.

    Skye Maynard was doing a sprint she'd done plenty of times before, running the block outside BPM Fitness Centre, when she lost her breath, then her peripheral vision, then everything. She had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest on the street.

    Her friend and nursing colleague Lara Kesteloo dropped down and started CPR, telling the crowd to call 911 and to clear a safe space to work. A former ER nurse, she kept going while fielding questions from the 911 operator and the people around her. When paramedics arrived with a defibrillator, a single shock put Maynard's heart back into rhythm.

    That was Sept. 14, 2024. This week, paramedic Noel Morton handed Kesteloo a B.C. Emergency Health Services commendation letter and a challenge coin. Doctors still can't say why a healthy mother of three suddenly went into arrest.

    Kesteloo said the street was nothing like a hospital, where a team and equipment surround her. "You're fighting self-doubt every step of the way," she said. It took days of counselling to settle her nerves.

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