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A Winnipeg non-profit facility that provides rehabilitation therapy to individuals with spinal cord or neurological injuries will be closing at the end of this week.
Raynald Dupuis, a volunteer board member at First Steps Wellness Centre, says the closure is due to financial constraints.
“It’s hard to surmount,” Dupuis said. “Because we’re not charging our clients what it’s actually costing us, we’re charging them a rate to keep it as affordable as possible.”
Dupuis noted another company that shared the space they were renting had moved out, and they had been unable to find other renters. The centre was also being managed remotely from Regina. He says the closure of the facility will leave many without options.
“They don’t have another place where activity-based therapy is offered” he said, noting the difference the therapy makes in the client’s lives.
“They are doing what their doctors said they could never do.”
Dupuis says a group is currently coming together to form a volunteer board that aims to raise money and hopefully reopen the facility in another location.
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“Once we’ve got the board then we need to look at marketing, we need to look at the legal aspects of incorporating and applying for charitable status, and we need to look for space,” he said.
Changing lives
Cheryl Castor’s son Will attends First Steps Wellness Centre. She says the therapy her son has received has helped him make strides in his recovery journey.
“We were told that he would never walk, talk, or eat again, but he’s doing all of those things now,” Castor told Global News.
Will Castor, 28, was severely injured in a car accident four years ago that left him with a traumatic brain injury. His mother says the therapy he’s received at First Steps has made what was once thought impossible possible.
“When he was first injured, he couldn’t even sit up,” Cheryl said. “He has progressed so much. He’s getting himself out of bed, sitting up. They may sound like simple things, but they’re not. They’re huge.”
Lealand Muller has had a similar experience at First Steps Wellness Centre.
“The thing about First Steps is nobody ever thinks that they would need a place like this,” Muller said.
“And when you do need a place like this, you’re thankful that one exists.”
An accident left Muller paralyzed in 2018. He originally moved to Saskatchewan to receive treatment at the First Steps Wellness Centre located in Regina. When the Winnipeg location opened, it allowed him to move back home and continue his recovery journey, he said.
Muller also says it goes beyond physical therapy.
“It’s not only the therapy they provide, but also the community that comes with it,” he said. “It was crucial to my mental health to be around other people, but also other people that understood what I was going through.”
The closure of the non-profit’s Winnipeg facility is leaving many with few options, and concerned about the future.
“Coming to the realization that this may not be here for the foreseeable future was very upsetting because I’m come so far,” Muller said.
“It leaves a void that is hard to fill.”
“First Steps is a godsend,” Cheryl said. “This place is incredible and we just don’t want to see it go.”
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