Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host, Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start this off the same way we always do with gratitude. I want to thank everybody. Who's watching this live and, or the recording afterwards for tuning in. I know you're busy. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. And from the bottom of my heart, it really does mean the world to me, that you were spending with us on that note. Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 0 00:00:35 All right. And then we're back. Okay. I know I say this a lot, but I truly do mean it. I'm excited for this episode. Uh, the lady that we have on the couch today, I've known for a few years now. I always have good chats with her. Um, it's impossible not to smile when I'm talking to her. So this is going to be fun. Um, as you know, I do not introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than I, so on that note, can you please introduce yourself, uh, to the people at home? Sure.
Speaker 1 00:00:58 Hi, I'm Allie weights. Um, I'm a physiotherapist here in Fort McMurray. I work at Clearwater physical therapy in liquid, and I also work in the schools with children.
Speaker 0 00:01:10 You do some pretty cool things in the schools with kids. So I got a funny story just right off the bat about something you do that has nothing to do with you. Okay. So EK, my wife, she rides bikes. Right. And so she has a bike with a basket on it. Yeah. And so I was just like, okay, cool. So for Christmas, I was like, you know what, I'm going to buy her one of these bikes. And it was a tricycle with like a bike, with a basket on the back. Sweet. I was like, and it was an electric. I'm like, Oh, she's going to love this major brownie points. And so I didn't buy it, but I, because I know how my wife accepts gifts. So I got a picture of it and I print out and said, Hey, we'll go buy this thing.
Speaker 0 00:01:49 And then she for Christmas, all thanks, Elliott. I appreciate it. It's really nice. And then like, once, like Christmas is over, she's like, yeah, I don't think I want that bike. And I'm like, why not? It's so like functional, it's everything you want. It looks cool. And she's like, no, Ali has one of those bikes in our school. I'm like all day, like we're having kids who have like motor skill issues on it. And it just like, to me, like, uh, I don't want it. I can't, I don't want it. Like, it reminds her at work. I'm like, ah, thanks, Allie. You ruined my Christmas gift. So let's talk about what you do. Cause you're not just a normal physical therapist. Um, you have specialized in a few different things. So let's chat about that please.
Speaker 1 00:02:34 Okay. So my two kind of like passions, I will say are pediatrics. So kids, um, so I've been working with kids since probably 2013, um, in a variety of different forms. But here in Fort McMurray, I worked in the schools and we have this like super cool program called wood Buffalo. You can write too. So it's an adaptive bike program. We have bikes, um, in all, pretty much all of the, in Fort McMurray this year. Like we have expanded so much our first year we started with, I think 45 bikes went out in the summer of 2018. Last year we had over a hundred and we have over 115 registered for this year already. So we're just like, it's blowing up. Um, and the kids are just, they love it. Like you said, they're at schools. Well at your wife's school, I think I've got 10 bikes there.
Speaker 0 00:03:23 Yeah. I saw them last time I was there and they're cool bikes like,
Speaker 1 00:03:27 Yeah, it's fantastic. So, um, it's a super cool program and it just, it brings like so much joy and it's one of the reasons why I love my job so much because like watching those kids ride a bike and watching families see their kids ride a bike. Right.
Speaker 0 00:03:41 It's pretty impressive. Yeah. It's amazing. No, what you do is really interesting because when I started working at Clearwater, I had no idea about physical therapy for one, or like children and gross motor skills. And luckily at the time, like I had just had a kid Keegan, he was like, maybe one give or take. Yeah. And I brought him into a bunch of your programs and there's tons of things that as a parent, you just take for granted and you don't know like what the steps are and how to help progress your child. Yeah. Really cool.
Speaker 1 00:04:10 Yeah. It's it's yeah. It's fun. Kids are my favorite. I mean, my favorite, one of my favorite populations to work with and just because it's all it's, I tell parents it's trickery, but it's like, it's games. Like you were playing games that have specific purpose to help them progress their skills. And so it's a lot of fun. It's, I mean, it's active. I get my steps in for sure. But it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 0 00:04:33 The one thing that, uh, blew my mind was, uh, one of your tests or I dunno, skill metrics is, was can a kid throw a ball underhand? And I was just like, of course, come on. Everybody knows how to throw a ball underhanded. And then I like gave to my kid. I was like, Hey, Keegan, throw it to me like underhand. And he couldn't do it. He didn't know what to do. I'm like, Oh, you're going to go see Ali a lot more.
Speaker 1 00:04:59 Yeah. There's a lot of technique that I think like obviously a, my I'm looking at it, but as parents, like, we're not necessarily like looking at what does that look like? How does your kid go up and down the stairs? Like, there's a lot of things that you don't necessarily pay attention to until you're like, Hey, or you've got another kid to compare them to, or you watch somebody else do it. And you're like, Whoa, that kid threw the ball way different than my kid throws the ball. And I mean, there's variability, but yeah, there's, there's definitely, there's some technique to it that just, you know, comes out in the kids.
Speaker 0 00:05:28 Yeah, no, that's one component of physical therapy that you do, you do another component, which for the ladies out there, like it's super helpful as a, as a male, obviously this is not something that I've ever encountered, but from all the success stories that I've heard, like, what do you do for the ladies is a game changer.
Speaker 1 00:05:45 Yeah. So I also do a women's pelvic health, well, pelvic health in general. So it can apply to men, not on a more rare basis. Um, but yeah, w women is kind of the majority of the population there, but yeah, pelvic health and, you know, it's something that's getting, I think a lot more, it's getting more recognition. Um, and it was funny because when I took my course, um, several years ago, there was someone there from the UK and she was like, this is standard treatment in the UK. See a physiotherapist when you have a baby and you see them for six visits postpartum. And you know, that is just standard of care. And it is like far from that here. Um, but it it's amazing. Yeah. People will be like, I had someone in, you know, just this last week that I've been suffering with this for 12 years and in a month, so much has changed in my life.
Speaker 0 00:06:38 That's right. Yeah. That's great. So, yeah, it was always interesting when you guys would, uh, do your talks to groups. I would come in and, or we'd go out and you talk and I'd be sitting in the room and listening to like all of the pelvic health stuff and like the issues that some of the ladies were having. I'd just be like at first, my face would always, uh, blush a little bit. Um, but then it was amazing to hear the stories afterwards of like how it really did change your life. Like across the gamut,
Speaker 1 00:07:08 It makes a big difference. And it's sometimes it's small things like it's, sometimes it's such small things that make such a big difference in people's lives. I tell women all the time, women in Fort McMurray are hyper aware of how often they have to go to the bathroom because it is two and a half hours minimum to wandering river. And you know how long you can hold your bladder for based on how many times you have to stop on that stretch of highway.
Speaker 0 00:07:32 That's hilarious. That's hilarious. Yeah. So we know, you know, you know, so in regards to physical therapy, and honestly, I don't remember if we've ever talked about this and if we have, I apologize, how did you get into it?
Speaker 1 00:07:47 Um, hi. I knew I wanted to be a physiotherapist when I was in high school. That was like my always goal. I was like, I'm going to be a physiotherapist. This is going to be great. That's just, I don't even know. I think I had physiotherapy, um, cause I was pretty active in like track and hockey and whatnot when I was younger. So, um, I just always knew it, but that being said, going into physio school, I was like, Oh, I'm going to be a sports physiotherapist. I'm going to work on a sports team. I'm going to do like orthopedics. Like that's going to be my jam. And, um, it was not that traditional role of physio was not where I went. I like did placements in the ICU. I did placements on the burn unit. And those were like those like really intensive, like medical situations were like my absolute favorite.
Speaker 1 00:08:32 Like I loved it. Um, and so, yeah, that brought me here to Fort McMurray. I worked in the hospital for several years and then, um, I actually kind of got forced into pediatrics, which again, cause it was before I had kids and I was like, I don't want to see kids. Like, that's going to be a lot of work. Um, and then my boss at the time, who's Andrew spring that own they have, um, hero the helicopter. Yeah. So Andrew was my boss at the time and she had been doing pediatrics and she was like, Nope, you're going to do this. And so I have like, I have to thank her a lot for kind of making me go down that path because it has been, yeah, it's been fantastic. I love it. I love my job.
Speaker 0 00:09:11 That's awesome. Yeah. Now you're not from Fort McMurray. No. Where are you from? I'm from a task when I know cars cost less than with task. When I just wanted to say I set you off, I was like, should I say millet? Just to throw them off? Yeah. Yeah. I'm from Tasman. So just self at Edmonton. Yeah. And so you're, it's that's good. Like Alberta, it's easy for you to go visit your family. Yeah, absolutely. Prior to COVID but it is. Yeah, for sure. It's awesome. That's awesome. No, yeah. I know you're a little bit apprehensive to be here, but you're killing it. You're doing it. You're going to, well,
Speaker 1 00:09:49 I think I told you that I would turn red within seconds. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:09:52 Yeah. And you haven't done it. You're like you're crushing this. So now I've got to put you a little bit on the hotspot. Okay. We do the segment. Tander segment called the Mac city minute. He's going to ask you some questions. Okay. I don't know what he's going to ask. You. Get ready for it. Tanner hit her with your questions.
Speaker 2 00:10:07 Question number one. What is it? What is the best part of working with children in all different schools?
Speaker 1 00:10:14 Oh man. Uh, the best part of working with children is like children in general is that they take what you give them and they just run with it. Like they, kids are so resilient and they want to participate with their kids, with their friends. They want to do stuff that's fun. And they like, they run with it. I have, I pull kids out of class and there's other kids that want to come with them. They're like, Oh miss Sally, are you going to take me today too? And I'm like, Oh no, you know, I don't need to take you, but they like, they want to come. Cause they know that we're like doing an obstacle course in the hallway and like they walk by and see how much fun it looks like. So, um, yeah. I feel like I have a fun job and, and the kids just like make it that much better.
Speaker 2 00:10:58 Question number two. What is one thing you'd recommend for all parents to help their children with their physical development?
Speaker 0 00:11:06 Um,
Speaker 1 00:11:07 Tummy time. So like, just from when babies are little, it is um, the whole like back to sleep campaign change. So like when, you know parents now like people who are parents now, um, we were kind of the beginning of that change. So we started having to sleep on our backs and before babies were mostly put to sleep on their stomachs. So now we have this whole back to sleep campaign and kids are spending less and less time on their tummies. Um, and it really affects their physical development and people don't realize it. And like, I mean, you hear it all the time from like, you know, the nurses at public health and from your pediatrician. And you know, if you're going to physio, you hear it. But it actually really is really important to get your kid on their tummy. Yep.
Speaker 2 00:11:50 Question number three. What is best story from physio school?
Speaker 0 00:11:57 Oh geez. That's a college story.
Speaker 1 00:12:02 Um, you know, physio school was hilarious. So physio is, it's a master's program. So I had my four years of my undergrad already, and then you're going into these additional two years and I was like, Oh, these people are going to be so mature. Like this is going to be, you know, different than your undergrad, but it really is like finding your people. So everybody's there you, like, I had a class of 86. I think we all got along. It was like, it honestly was the best two years of my life. I probably had more fun going out and doing like all kinds of ridiculous activities. Um, but I don't even know if I could pick one. I mean, we beat the med students at hockey. Can I, can I say that that was like a fantastic, we did a rehab med hockey tournament, uh, and the physio girls.
Speaker 0 00:12:52 Yeah. We're not going to say the year, but what, what establishment? Like which university is this? Oh, I went to university of Alberta. Oh, there you go. Okay. Well, those doctors are probably still pretty sour about that Wilken
Speaker 1 00:13:04 And I mean, what's, there was one of them who was like one of my really good friends. I played hockey with her, like all through university and she did a one-year physio school with us and then she transferred over to med school,
Speaker 0 00:13:14 Extra sweet. Nice. Did it get physical surgeon now? Did it get physical?
Speaker 1 00:13:20 Uh, I mean, lots of people couldn't skate,
Speaker 0 00:13:22 So yes, the answer's yes. So I guess they need therapy after. Ah, there you go.
Speaker 2 00:13:30 And number four, what was your favorite type of physical therapy you don't do and why?
Speaker 1 00:13:38 Um, okay. Well, there's like two pieces to that. I wish I did acupuncture and like dry needling. I like feel like that is just so useful. Um, and I get people to, I got like Shaleen to do it on me all the time. So that is super cool. And um, vestibular rehab. I don't really do a lot of like vestibular balance vertigo type stuff. And I think that's really cool too, but it's not mine, not in my wheelhouse. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:14:05 And your final question, what is it like working with both moms and kids in the physical therapy field?
Speaker 1 00:14:12 I feel like it flows so well. So like the working with kids and then also working with moms, it's just like, it's such an understanding. And I mean, I have my own kids, but I think that just knowing like what they're going through at different stages, especially new moms, you know, like they'll come in and say like, okay, you know, I'm going to get all these exercises done and I give them all this education and then I'm like, look, I'm going to give you this handout. And I'm only going to give you three exercises. Cause you're going to forget almost everything I said in the next few minutes, because you've got so much going on in your life. So, um, it's just, yeah, it's a little bit of a continuum and I think that it's like the best relationship. So those have been your
Speaker 0 00:14:52 Five questions you go, you just need it to good at this. There you go. So I know we're running to the end of the show, so, but you do so many cool things. So I want to just recap it all over again. So let's first, first off, let's start about talking about the bike program again. Okay. What it is, how people get involved. Let's talk about the bike program.
Speaker 1 00:15:13 So by program is wood Buffalo. You can write too. There is a, you can ride to program in Edmonton, but we are wood Buffalo. You can write too. Um, so you can find us on, on Facebook and Instagram. Um, we are, we provide adapted bikes for kids in the Fort McMurray wood, Buffalo region. Um, they get to borrow their bikes over the summer. We're in our registration process where we're tying up registration right now. Uh, we have a tri day this Friday actually where, um, kids come in and try the bikes so we can figure out which bike you get to take home. Um, and then we have to do some serious ordering over the next little bit to get our bikes together and then Canadian tire and stratosphere sports have been like so good to us because it's hard to get bike stuff right now with COVID like, it's, it's been tough.
Speaker 1 00:15:57 So yeah, that's that we have a new program that we're working on. Um, it's called the go baby go. And it's like, you know, the little motorized vehicles. Okay. You can adapt them for kids with various abilities and they have a little switch. So that, that's how they go forward and backward. They might have like a support system in them to like help hold someone's head up. Um, and they're like parent controlled, remote controlled. So we are trying to get some of those in Fort McMurray. We're partnering with, uh, a charity out of Calgary. Well children's ability. Um, Albert, I think it's called, um, or children's variety Alberta and they're helping us kind of partner with that program. So we're actually looking for some funds for that program as well.
Speaker 0 00:16:39 Cool. Yeah. So that's the bike component and let's talk about the physical therapy component in regards to how you work with children in Clearwater, as well as pelvic health with women. Sure.
Speaker 1 00:16:49 So then yeah, you can find me at Clearwater and liquid. Um, it's it, I'm there, I'm there like a day, a week, two days a week sort of deal. And yeah, I mean, I work with kids and of all ages, really variety of conditions, kind of whatever's going on that you need help with. Um, and then I also do pelvic health.
Speaker 0 00:17:08 There we go. Sweet. I Clearwater physical therapy inadequate by the McDonald's and the shell gas station. There you go, Tim horns, easy to find.
Speaker 1 00:17:18 It's like get a coffee before or after.
Speaker 0 00:17:20 There you go. There you go. All right, Ali, that's it short and sweet. You murdered it. Thanks. Good job. Good job. All right. Well Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. That's been another episode. Thank you very much for tuning in. It really does mean the world to me, hopefully having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 3 00:17:41 <inaudible> talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
