Would she walk again?
How Florence found the help she needed
Just after a horrific ice storm, Florence decided it was safe enough to walk to the grocery store to buy milk for her coffee. But just twenty steps from her front door, she slipped and fractured her right hip, breaking her thigh bone and ankle.
Following a successful surgery that week, she was sent home to recuperate. Due to the minimal resources available for home support and physical therapy, Florence worried she would never recover or walk again.
She didn’t have the financial means for private services and didn’t want to burden her family. Feeling she had no choice but to try to recover independently, she kept her worries and mobility issues to herself.
She could no longer go it alone
At a follow-up visit to her family doctor, she was referred to LA Centre for Active Living. Within a week, Florence began participating in the centre’s free health and fitness classes. Two months later, Florence progressed from being totally dependent on a wheelchair to using a walker, and finally to a cane. In just six months she was back to walking independently. She continues to be a frequent participant in the centre’s many programs and services.
Photo: A participant of a seniors program at St. John Paul the Great Family Centre