‘Lots of fun’: Calgary-area seniors hit the ice in wheelchairs

Some seniors in and around Calgary aren’t letting their physical challenges get in the way of some great winter fun.

All it takes is a couple of minor adjustments and the years just melt away.

Seniors from the Seasons Retirement Community in High River, Alta., hit the ice at the nearby Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex.

For many of them, it involved shifting off their walkers and into wheelchairs which Seasons staff members on skates pushed around the rink.

“To be out here, it’s just great!” resident Norma Pawlak said.

It’s all part of efforts by the staff at Seasons to help seniors stay active.

“They were saying that they like to go skating and I said, ‘Well, we can still go skating,'” staff member Chrystal Maude said. “There’s no way to stop us doing that, because recreation is taking away those barriers so that they can have fun and experience those recreational leisure things that they used to do.”

Seasons staff are planning on taking the seniors on another session on the ice later this winter.

“We’re spinning and we’re having lots of fun,” Pawlak said. “So it’s a good day.”