Local community support worker Janet Neil now has a profound knowledge of both sides of her job.
With 17 years helping others, Neil found that she was having difficulty with her knees and joints.
“With my job, at times it can be quite sedative. There were certain tasks I didn’t want to engage in because it hurt because I had a knee injury. My doctor referred me to the program for physical therapy,” said Neil.
“When I was there, they were basically able to encourage you to move every day other than just sitting at your desk — things like stretches and walking and developing more on an active lifestyle.”
However, she was fortunate to get involved in the Alberta Healthy Living Exercise program, a provincial physiotherapy offered in Westlock that helps people cope with long-term and chronic illness.
The program, which runs at the Rotary Spirit Centre, teaches participants stretches and exercises that help them deal with their aches and pains.
“The Healthy Living Exercise program is one piece of our Alberta Healthy Living program, which has been running since about 2009 in Westlock,” said exercise therapist Shirley Toporowski.
“It is a group-based program focused on helping people get the skills they need to use physical activity to manage their health.”
She added that each session runs eight weeks — twice a week — and she runs seven of them a year.
“We try to vary the time of day that we run the programs in order to accommodate people’s working schedules,” explained Toporowski. “We really try to focus on teaching exercises that people can do at home with minimum equipment.”
Toporowski explained that the program runs participants through aerobic exercises, strengthening exercises for the core as well as upper and lower body, stretching techniques, and balance training to prevent falls.
“The research is pretty good that exercise is really influential in helping us live a healthier life and that more activity is better for us,” said Toporowski. “The class is really for people to get that start and improve their health over time.”
For Neil, the class was something of an awakening.
“If you talked to me in the distant past about exercise, I would have been like ‘yeah, yeah, sure,’ but now I look forward to it,” said Neil.
“I have more energy. Before I felt like I would have to grab a whole system of pain killers before I would go and do a decent walk. Now I walk regularly and I really look forward to it.”
She added that the classroom setting of the therapy allows for peer support and helped her make new connections in the community.
“It’s a good way to see that you’re not alone. You see that some people are more challenged than yourself, so you get to talk and start some friendships from it.”
Neil said that now that she has caught the exercise bug, she’s hooked.
“There was a time where I had to stop because of life events and I could really see the difference between keeping active and being involved in something for exercise. I’ve just made it one of the priorities in my life.”
Neil encouraged anyone with physical issues to sign up for the program.
“It helps you holistically. It helps you mentally, it helps you physically, you just feel good all around.”
To sign up for the program called the Chronic Disease Management North Zone at 1-877-349-5711.
