By Matthew Abrey

For many Kelowna residents with permanent or long-term ailments and disabilities, the therapeutic pool at Kelowna General Hospital provides relief and comfort they otherwise cannot find on dry land.

However, for many, access to the therapeutic pool will soon be cut off.

Kelowna General Hospital is limiting use of the therapeutic pool to those who are in line for, or recently recovering from joint replacement surgeries. The pool had, until recently, been closed for months due to restructuring and reorganization.

Lova Witier is just one of many who is getting the boot from the pool. The 77-year-old has had two hip replacements, a fractured femur, arthritis in her knees, and is dependant on a walker. She relies on her semi-weekly visits to the pool to ease the wide range of pain she deals with every single day.

害羞草研究所淭hey called and said that now that the pool was open again, they had changed things and they were going to call everybody in who was using the pool for an assessment,害羞草研究所� says Witier.

害羞草研究所淭hey basically recommended that we go elsewhere for rehab, because they could no longer give us the service, except for those with acute pain. Well, I don害羞草研究所檛 know how much more acute I could possibly be, unless I was permanently in a wheelchair.害羞草研究所�

Current pool-users also have an issue with how these crucial assessments were conducted.

害羞草研究所淲e were told to come in after it reopened and get an hour-long assessment, but when we went in, it wasn害羞草研究所檛 really a medical assessment,害羞草研究所� says Witier.

害羞草研究所淣obody asked you how you felt, what you could or couldn害羞草研究所檛 do, or even asked you to perform tasks to see what you could do. They just sat you down on a bed, and told us that from now on, you need to phone H2O or the Parkinson Rec Centre and find out what they offer.害羞草研究所�

Witier explained that this simply wasn害羞草研究所檛 possible, because many of the people who use the KGH facility do not or cannot swim. Regular public swimming pools don害羞草研究所檛 have parallel bars, or anything to hold onto in the pool, and all it would take would be one missed step for many of the users to be looking at yet another surgery.

The KGH facility boasts a pool deck that raises and lowers as necessary to accommodate those who use canes, walkers and wheelchairs.

害羞草研究所淭he pool deck comes up and I害羞草研究所檓 able to transfer from my wheelchair to a chair害羞草研究所� then the pool floor goes down to a level and I can challenge myself to walk,害羞草研究所� says Christa Akins, who is focusing on regaining strength after an accident left her partially paralyzed nearly a year ago.

Akins also added that the temperature is 35 C, warm enough to stop her muscles from seizing.

Frequent users have also been told that part of the reason for the restructuring is the over-crowding of the pool.

However, according to the regulars, there is almost never more than about 12 people in the pool, which is not even close to becoming crowded.

害羞草研究所淢ost of the people I talk to go to the pool twice a week for half an hour,害羞草研究所� says Witiak. 害羞草研究所淭hat害羞草研究所檚 it害羞草研究所� it costs about $4.50 every time we go in, but pretty much everybody would pay more if it was a question of budget, but they say no no, the pool is too busy with inpatients.害羞草研究所�

When asked for comment, Donna Jansons, director of Allied Health, said, 害羞草研究所淭he therapy pool at Kelowna General Hospital is undergoing scheduling and programming changes to better assist patients who require the pool for acute therapeutic services and healing following a surgery or injury害羞草研究所� as a result, some patients who have had previous access to the pool for exercise or maintenance programs are being offered an assessment by a physiotherapist and an appropriate short-term (six week) program at the pool before transitioning to a community pool in Kelowna for exercise programs. To date, there are approximately 50 patients who have accepted this offer and the feedback received about their transition to community pool or service has been positive.害羞草研究所�

Last week, Akins started a petition which at last count, had garnered upwards of 100 signatures. She害羞草研究所檚 planning to bring the petition to meetings she害羞草研究所檚 set up with the mayor, MLAs and onward. Letters have also been sent to Minister of Health, Adrian Dix, as well as Premier John Horgan.

害羞草研究所淭his is not right,害羞草研究所� says Akins. 害羞草研究所淭here are a lot of people who are suffering that have no way of getting into another pool without handrails or parallel bars. It needs to change.害羞草研究所�

To learn more about her petition, contact Akins at positivedifference@shaw.ca.