May 12, 2025
Volunteer Bryan Lowry, left, and friend Wally James strike a pose at the recent Invictus Games in Whistler, B.C. Since January 2023, he’s also served as a volunteer in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Red Deer Regional Health Centre. Supplied.
Story by Gayleen Froese
Volunteering can take you to incredible places. For Alberta Health Services (AHS) volunteer Bryan Lowry, it took him all the way to the Invictus Games and a meeting with Prince Harry.
Lowry is a former AHS telecommunications contractor who has, since January 2023, served as a volunteer in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Red Deer Regional Health Centre. In this role, volunteers help people with wayfinding, transport people in wheelchairs, and provide comfort items such as blankets. They also help keep the ICU tidy and stocked with non-medical supplies.
Volunteering is a big part of Lowry’s life — he also has a history of volunteering with Red Deer sports organizations and at alpine sporting events across Canada. His alpine sporting experience led to his invitation to join the volunteer team at the 2025 Invictus Games in Whistler, B.C.
“I was asked by the head of timing for the alpine snowboard events,” he adds. “I was there for seven days.”
Lowry met Prince Harry through a request for a photo — not for himself, but for one of the athletes.
“One of the U.K. athletes asked me if I could ask him to come for a picture, so I did. He came over and talked to the U.K. athletes and took some pictures.”
When they were done, Lowry got a picture of his own with the prince.
As so often happens when volunteering, he came away from the experience both moved and motivated by the people he worked with. At the games, this included an amputee from Nigeria who’d never seen snow, but who wanted to compete.
“The Invictus staff set him up with winter gear and three days of ski race training. He got better on each attempt. Inspirational!”
Brenda Farwell, coordinator for Central Zone Volunteer Resources, finds her own inspiration in the work done by volunteers like Lowry.
“Bryan volunteers here once a week,” she says. “He’s appreciated and respected by the ICU staff for his engagement and commitment to his role.
If you’re feeling inspired by Lowry’s story and you want to see where volunteering will take you, reach out to Volunteer Resources: Volunteer_Resources@ahs.ca.
