Vigneault, Flyers helping senior citizens during pause

Alain Vigneault is using his time during the pause to help more than his hockey team.

The Philadelphia Flyers coach is participating in the Flyers Phone Line-Mates program, which pairs employees from Comcast Spectacor, the company that owns the Flyers, with senior citizens living in the Mildred Shor Inn at the Abramson Center for Jewish Life in North Wales, Pennsylvania.

"When the Flyers brought this program to my attention, and there were a couple in our group that talked about it, it was something that we felt if we can help in any minuscule way, we wanted to do it," Vigneault said recently. "There's so many people out there, not just the senior citizens, but other people, that this is a real challenge. If we can help in any way possible, we would want to do that."

Flyers president of business operations Valerie Camillo said having Vigneault on board also motivated other Comcast Spectacor employees to get involved, including former Flyers forward Daniel Briere.

"Participating in it myself, along with [Vigneault], we got personal value out of these calls," Camillo said. "When we say we want to be a service to the community, we're taking our time at the highest levels of the organization to do it. And it's actually providing us great value. It was very authentic when [Vigneault] and myself were able to share with the staff what that experience was like for us. I think it encouraged them to participate, too. We've gotten a phenomenal response.

"Some of the players we've been talking to about it. We just launched it pretty recently, and most of the players are not local. [Vigneault's] leadership helps there as well. Some of the alumni have been participating or had just recently signed up. Who knows? Maybe you get a call from some of our bigger named Flyers ambassadors as well."

The program has been especially important to the Mildred Shor Inn residents, who have been confined to their rooms because of their susceptibility to COVID-19, which caused the NHL to pause its season on March 12.

"They're confined to their facilities, they're self-quarantined, they're not going out in their community," Camillo said. "But more than that, they're not allowed to go out of their room for their own safety. You can imagine being confined to your room for this amount of time, they're looking for breaks in the day and it's to distract yourself and keep you busy. If we can be part of that in some small way and making their days better and brightening it, we're happy to do that."

But the residents at Mildred Shor Inn aren't the only senior citizens Vigneault is concerned about.

Vigneault was initially self-quarantining at his home in Florida before deciding in early April to return to his home in Gatineau, Quebec, to be closer to his parents, each of whom is in their 80s and resides in a senior living center in the area.

Vigneault said his mother is dealing with dementia and recently was moved to a different floor, but his father is still able to spend a few hours a day with her.

"In Quebec, the hardest hit places in society are the senior citizen homes," he said. "That's where most of the deaths have occurred, and if they get one case, they get quite a few cases, and those people, their immune systems aren't very strong. ... My dad is real sharp. He's like a lot of older people, he's very lonely. They're not allowed to do much, they're not allowed to go out of their homes. So it's been really challenging for someone who's 84 years old who still plays golf once a week. Like all senior citizens, he's confined.

"Hopefully we can help them get back to some form of seeing their kids and their grandkids, some form of normalcy, as quick as society will allow."

Another benefit for Vigneault returning to Quebec was being closer to his sister, Nicole Vigneault, and his girlfriend, Monica Cotton, each of whom is a frontline worker.

Nicole is a technical advisor for Quebec Health in the Gatineau region and works with community leaders to track the coronavirus and advise on quarantine decisions. Cotton works directly with coronavirus patients as an emergency nurse at Ottawa Hospital.

"Part of me coming back to Gatineau was there was a little bit of pressure from family members and friends to get back to Canada," Vigneault said. "Nobody really knows how this is going to unfold. It changes daily. This is new, the science is evolving, the information is evolving. I do have some knowledge, but like everybody else, this is an evolving state. It's challenging for everybody that's associated with it.

"I don't look at this with any type of personal frustration on my part. I would prefer to be coaching the Flyers and be into the (Stanley Cup) Playoffs, but when I see the world has come to a complete stop, when I see this affecting all sorts of people in all walks of life, I don't feel sorry for myself at all. I just try to do my small part at this time to help. Hopefully we all get back to normalcy here real soon."

And if the time comes when the NHL is able to restart its season, Vigneault said he's confident the Flyers can continue playing at the same level they were before the season was paused. Philadelphia's 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on March 10 ended a nine-game winning streak that helped move the Flyers within one point of the Washington Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

"We were on the upswing, we were playing well," Vigneault said. "Moving forward, you can't get frustrated about that. It is what it is. There's a lot more people going through tougher situations than we are at this point. So when we do have an opportunity to come back and do our part and help society get back to some form of normalcy, I believe sports is going to be a huge part of that, and hopefully we can do our part for Flyers fans by getting right back to where we were before and hopefully playing some solid hockey."