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PACE allows me to seamlessly integrate research within the community so that our exercise interventions for brain health can have a meaningful impact sooner to help keep dementia at bay.

PACE allows me to seamlessly integrate research within the community so that our exercise interventions for brain health can have a meaningful impact sooner to help keep dementia at bay.

To this day I still visit clients both inside and outside the PACE on a regular basis as I truly do consider them friends.

My name is Andrew Mikhail and I’m a former volunteer and staff member at the PACE. My first experience with PACE was after my first year of undergrad when I began volunteering in the MacWheelers exercise program. I truly enjoyed my summer volunteering there, helping out the clients in a very friendly and supportive environments. I found myself wanting to be there more often and it didn’t feel like a “volunteering task” but more of a place where I can come socialize with clients while helping them follow their exercise programs. During my second year, I increased my volunteer shifts to 3-4 times per week where I got to know more of the lovely clients and previous staff. During May 2016, I had the honour of being hired as a staff member for the MSFITT and MacWheelers program. I can confidently say that it was my favourite employment. Aside from building on my friendships with both staff and clients, I was able to have more responsibilities and further help clients by creating individualized exercise programs and leading one on one sessions on specialized equipment such as the lokomat and Zero-G. Unfortunately, I am no longer a staff member at PACE after beginning my master’s degree, but my experience there will stay with me forever. Many of the skills I learned at PACE including good clinical practice and modifying exercises to fit an individual have really helped me in my graduate studies while organizing my own research studies. To this day I still visit clients both inside and outside the PACE on a regular basis as I truly do consider them friends.

With the guidance of the staff and volunteers at PACE, I am realizing that I am stronger than I think.

Having a long term injury is not just about reducing the pain so you can move again, it is also about the mental part of healing. With the guidance of the staff and volunteers at PACE I am realizing that I am stronger than I think. They are there to encourage me past my fear of moving just in case I hurt myself, they are there to provide further understanding of my program. They are non-judgmental and encouraging. They are there to give a smile while I am sweating my way through my program. The staff empower me every time I go to the gym. I am so grateful to be a part of the PACE group.