A Bearspaw resident wants the community of Cochrane to know how lucky it is to be getting warm water therapy pool.
Anne Scott was one of two people who spoke to the District Warm Water Therapy Pool Society’s annual general meeting on April 14 about how the pool improved her quality of life.
After a nearly fatal year-and-a-half long battle with a staph infection in her knee, Scott suffered a debilitating injury when her Achilles tendon ruptured in July 2015.
She began her recovery phase in October 2015 with a physiotherapist in Calgary who recommended she try warm water therapy at the Winsport Medical Clinic.
“I think I had taken my health for granted, so to have this thrown at me and find that my muscles were wasted because I had been lying in either a hospital bed or at home in a bed for almost a year and a half.”
Scott said her treatment at the clinic, which involves walking on an underwater treadmill, had her walking again in four months. She doesn’t believe she would have made nearly as much progress doing her therapy on dry land.
Kim Wedgerfield has had similar success with warm water therapy.
Wedgerfield has been in two major car accidents – one in 1988 left her with a brain injury that affected the entire right side of her body. The other in 2007 resulted in a spinal injury, which nearly prevented her from walking again. Compounding her problems was a Huntington’s disease diagnosis in 2002. The genetic disorder causes brain cells to die over time resulting in a degradation of motor control.
After her initial car accident and diagnosis, Wedgerfield said she was faced with some tough decisions.
“I worked really hard, and at first it was very difficult. (I considered) what should I do - do I live, do I die? I made the decision that I was going to carry on and keep going, then I found triathlons,” Wedgerfield said.
Participating in her first mini triathlon in 1998 and working her way up to her first Olympic-length triathlon in 2006, Wedgerfield would go on to qualify to compete in Worlds five times, winning one gold medal, one bronze medal, and three silvers medals.
Not only was exercise part of her recovery after her accidents, it was necessary for her well-being.
“I have to exercise, if I don’t I start to deteriorate – the Huntington’s progresses,” Wedgerfield explained.“I normally swim three times a week, whether I’m cycling or biking or using weights or doing cardio on the machines, then I need the warm water therapy pool after or sometimes before my workout. It’s where I do a lot of my stretching and it really helps with my balance,” Wedgerfield said.
The Town of Cochrane approved the space for the pool within the new aquatic and curling centre in 2012, but the society has been working tirelessly to accomplish the endeavour for several years.
Currently, it has raised approximately $81,500 in donations
The society hopes the pool will become a “destination facility” for people in need as it will be a relatively rare amenity.
“With all the research that we’ve done, there are no other community-based warm water therapy pools in Canada - there are some in the States, and there are warm water facilities with tanks usually attached to hospitals or care facilities. But this is pretty rare … kudos to the Town of Cochrane and its citizens, and the district,” Richard Foy with the pool society said.
