Call it a happy coincidence. When Tia Wayling was approached in the spring to co-ordinate delivery of an exercise program tailored for Parkinson’s sufferers she was already familiar with the program.
Wayling, fitness programmer for Creston & District Community Complex, had learned about PWR!Moves Program from an Interior Health physiotherapist. The physio, Gail Kuo, had given a presentation after qualifying to teach the program a year earlier.
“She presented the information to a group of us kinesiologists and physios, and was really wanting this program to launch but we didn’t have anyone at the time to teach it.”
A visit to Creston in the spring by a former resident provided new impetus. George Brown, husband of the late Dr. Afa Brown, came at the invitation of friends Dr. Randy Grahn and Marilin States, who is a recruiter with the Creston Valley Health Working Group. Brown has had remarkable success in his fight with Parkinson’s Disease in recent years.
“Mr. Brown came to visit and gushed about the positive results from a Parkinson’s program he was taking in Victoria,” Wayling said. “Turns out it is the same program.”
Brown made a presentation to local health care professionals, including most Creston physicians. That led to a meeting in July that included Interior Health representatives, Grahn, States and Wayling.
The health working group offered funds to send instructors to a training course in Montana, and Wayling recruited Sandee Greatrex and Jen Schiffke.
“At the same time, I was also asked to see what it would cost to run the program through the CDCC. All of the admin and equipment challenges we had would be taken care of if the CDCC took the program under their umbrella, with me, as Fitness Programmer, organizing everything as part of my job. We just had to make sure that we wouldn’t be running this program at a loss.”
Another layer of support came through a sponsorship offer from RE/MAX Discovery Real Estate, which held a massive garage sale fundraiser last weekend, raising nearly $3,000 which will help subsidize costs for the program’s first year.
The result of this co-operative effort is a program, Move to Improve (Parkinson’s) will start on September 19 at CDCC, running on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday each week.
“We kept Parkinson’s in brackets because there is potential to expand this program to a Fall Prevention Program,” Wayling said. ‘If there are enough people wanting to be involved, we could really shift perspectives in this town of what the power of movement can do for everyone, at any age or ability level.”
And Move to Improve (Parkinson’s) will not be restricted to people with the neurodegenerative disease. Some of the 12 spots in each class will be reserved for Parkinson’s patients but the rest will be open to people with other mobility challenges.
“We are meeting next week to discuss how instructors will communicate with health providers (physicians, physios, etc) because everyone in the program will be coming with a different level of symptoms. It will take incredible care and skill from the instructors to be able to work with all levels safely. We will also discuss the need for physio assessments so they can provide recommendations to the instructors. My intention is to launch this program as smooth as possible making sure everyone involved knows their role.
“We have already had a few people in the community come forward wanting to help volunteer during class which will be very welcomed. I feel the instructors will be able to provide a better quality class if there is a volunteer to help ensure safety of the participants that are at higher risk of falling. Have them talk to me if they are interested in helping out.”
As most participants will be seniors, the cost of drop-in is $5.15 or they can purchase a 10 or term pass to save per visit.
“Those on low income can apply for our Leisure Access Program to receive 50% off regular admission,” she said. “Because participants are paying general admission to the facility, this will allow them to use the pool or gym that same day, if they desire. Who doesn’t like a soak in the hot tub?
“We have run a variety of programs over the years here at the CDCC with sponsorship to help subsidize cost to the participants. But, since we opened our new facility, I have been wanting to bridge the gap between health care and health prevention. Movement is generally the best form of medicine (aside from laughter – but we can provide that too!) and I want to be able to make everyone feel like there is a place for them to do so within their own individual threshold.
We successfully launched our Get Active Diabetes Program this past April and the primary objective is to get people thinking about how they are managing their Diabetes (with the assistance of a Diabetes Educator through Shopper’s Drug Mart) while becoming more familiar with our gym space. I’m really glad we are starting to work more with the physicians and other health care providers in the town to keep our citizens healthy.
“It is really a surprise that a complicated program like this (with so many involved) can come to fruition in such a short time,” Wayling said.