Jill's Gym

Date: 18 September 2019. 
Place: 2680 Blanshard Street, Victoria, British Columbia. 
Location: Gymnasium and office facility.
Event: Grand Opening of Parkinson Wellness Project. 

A warm, sunny, early autumn day. We were all up early. The grand opening was some hours away, at 7 PM, but already, things were beginning to come to life. Phones started ringing, as volunteers began gathering at the centre, helping to set out some of the activities of the day. Lots of last-minute details to sort out. When would the cake be delivered? Were there enough chairs? Would the PA system be loud enough? Was there anything overlooked?

Jill was on the radio doing interviews. I seem to remember TV cameras as well. It was all a bit of a blur. Everyone seemed to need Jill that day!

The morning and afternoon were filled with exercise classes and Rock Steady Boxing sessions. There was a real buzz and a sense of something big. People came and went, journalists asked questions, photos were taken. I even had a go at the boxing myself!

Late afternoon, things began to quieten down as people left to get ready for the official opening in the evening. Some of the volunteer helpers went for pizza.

I sat down beside Jill and breathed out.

"Happy?" I asked her.

"Happy" she nodded. "And proud". 

For a moment, I thought I saw a tear.

Six years in the making, this was the culmination of Jill Carson's vision for people with Parkinson's in her community on Vancouver Island.

Let's backtrack to 2012. Jill, recently diagnosed with Parkinson's and looking for advice, had met Eli Pollard of WPC at the Unity Walk in New York in 2012. They chatted and Eli told her to "keep in touch".

Jill, a practising physiotherapist for 30 years, was determined to do something to help her local community. At first, it was little more than a small group of six friends doing exercises under Jill's direction. 

Starting at about this time was a sharp upsurge in the number of papers about exercise and Parkinson's. Although pretty much everyone accepted that exercise was valuable in Parkinson's, the amount and type were not fully understood. Serious research was now addressing these questions. But even more exciting were hints that exercise didn't just benefit your symptoms but it might just also slow down the progression of Parkinson's.

Jill did more than just stay in touch. She submitted an abstract for the 3rd World Parkinson Congress in Montréal in 2013, on exercise. This was her ticket to the meeting and introductions to several of the major players in the exercise arena so to speak – Becky Farley, Terry Ellis, Pam Quinn and others.

It was a lightbulb moment for Jill. Excited by the programmes being run by these experts, Jill thought "we have nothing like this back home". But more than that, it was clear to her that there was a need. "Victoria has more than 3000 people with Parkinson's. People go to Vancouver Island and Victoria to retire – it's a nice place to live and the weather is good".

Discussion followed discussion and, by the end of the Montréal meeting, Jill had a clear idea of what she could do, and a network of expert contacts to advise her. Word-of-mouth meant the six friends soon became 20. Those 20 needed space.  In 2014, they became a registered charity. Before long they were renting recreation centres and had a name – "ParkinGo". Although used locally, it proves to be a short lived name once Jill googled it – not only did the name already exist, but it turned out to be a parking lot in Italy. Nothing to do with Parkinson's. After a swift rethink, it became Parkinson Wellness Project, with the Google friendly acronym of PWP. And no longer any need to worry about Italian car parks.

Continued expansion (the 20 were now 77) meant they were renting four separate "satellite" facilities at one stage. But Jill's vision was always to bring them under one roof. The present facility fitted the bill perfectly – a gymnasium of 3000 ft.² and additional thousand square feet of recreation/office space. They moved in at the beginning of June 2019 and were soon running eight classes a week, for a range of disability levels.

What is the secret of success? Jill firmly believes that the social dimension – getting people to group classes – is important. This draws friends in and expands the value of the centre. You simply don't get that with personal trainers.

And this is borne out by the numbers. The 77 members at June 1 had expanded to 155 by the middle of September and at year end 2019 stood at 250 and 18 classes a week.

The key is twofold – function and assessment. Parkinson's is of course about loss of function so restoration is key. But this can only be achieved with tools for measurement. Progress needs to be assessable. And this provides incentives.

This kind of success attracts interest. Victoria now has a proper movement disorder specialist (Keiran Tuck) with an associated press practitioner. And Parkinson's British Columbia, through its CEO Jean Blake has funded a speech therapist to work out of the centre.

Cut to 7 PM on September 18th. It's standing room only as Keiran, Jean, Jill and I take the stage to answer questions. Lots of smiling faces. Lots of interest. And Jill is the 1st to thank WPC for its role, inspiring and encouraging her to embark on this project.

"Yes" she said "I kept in touch".