Recreational therapy

FMC Unit 58 is an acute rehabilitation unit that serves as far north as Red Deer; as far south as the Alberta/Montana border; as far west as Kelowna, BC and as east as Alberta/Saskatchewan border. That is a huge area when you only have 45 beds focusing on: head/brain injuries; stroke and spinal cord injuries. So I feel fortunate to be given this opportunity to continue in my recovery. I know they took a chance on me; in that I had only sat in a wheelchair for the first time 4 days before my transfer. This unit has a great medical team which includes physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a psychologist and recreational therapists.

I had no clue what recreational therapy can be given for a quadriplegic. How can I participate in activities when you don’t have use of your arms and legs. Well, to my surprise there were many activities I could participate in. They reintroduced me to my love of cards. They gave me a wooden card holder. I was able to play cribbage again - one of my favourite pastimes. I was initially teamed up with another new patient in my wing. We played trivia board games and worked together completing crossword puzzles. We had some good laughs and he knew his history trivia while I got the entertainment trivia.

I soon learned that recreational therapy was going to help me feel more normal by being able to reach out and reconnect with people on my own. Recreational therapy assists those with disabilities with assistive devices. Over the months ahead I learned about new communication devices, plus my neck muscles got stronger and my head was able to stay up longer too.

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