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Concordia Connection Spring 2024

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Connection CONCORDIA

SPRING 2024

COMMUNITY  CARING  COMPASSION  COMMITMENT

concordiafoundation.ca

A publication of the Concordia Hospital, Concordia Foundation and Concordia Wellness Projects Inc

The Healing Power of Music Tate Hiebert immerses us in the powers of melody and community

More Than A Place to Live

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Concordia Village expands their bold vision

A 20,000-Step Journey to Knee Health

Curiosity and Compassion Drive Rachel Bartel

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Walking program aids woman in her surgery and recovery

Roxy Goudy

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he could have taken up meditation; she could have relied on pharmaceuticals. But Roxy Goudy had her own prescription for how to ease the pain in her arthritic left knee – walk. And not just any ol’ walk in the park. The 65-year-old personable wife, mom, grandmother to four grandchildren and health-care aide from Balmoral-Selkirk, Man. developed her own walking program that would have left many others faltering at the start line.

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She dates her formal health care journey, complete with a rigorous program of walking up to 20,000 steps a day, to the fateful day in January 2023 when a doctor told her that she was prediabetic. This unwelcome news, in addition to the fact that she was already on a wait list for a total left knee replacement was enough to galvanize Roxy into action. She was not ready to be sidelined by health problems if she could do anything about it! If a journey begins with a single step, Roxy then developed a dedicated walking schedule of up to 20,000-steps-a-day on her own personal journey to better health. And going to her dad’s home to help take care of him in early 2023 provided just the opportunity. “I started to walk in my father’s basement,” she recalls. “I would strap on my knee brace with an ice pack and would often walk my way to 20,000 steps,” she says. “And as soon as it started warming up outside, I mapped out a route and took a walk every day. That led to two walks a day and working out with a trainer at a local gym.” Whew! By that time, Roxy was no stranger to the benefits of a knee brace. She had, in fact, been wearing a knee brace for about 10 years when her arthritic knee began to give her pain. It helped to ease the pain and keep her life going. Today, she is back to doing the things that she and her family enjoy: dancing, zip lining and even gliding (in a plane). Page 4 ➞

achel Bartel has worked with us in our engineering test lab as a co-op student. She stayed on after her co-op term to work with our team to execute hip and ankle wear tests on our joint simulators. She has become an expert in explant processing of retrieved implants gathered from Concordia Hospital. She also has been part of maintaining our quality system by performing internal audits. She works with us during the school year while studying at Canadian Mennonite University as well.

How did you end up at Concordia working in our research lab?

One of the researchers at Concordia knew my high school chemistry teacher and recommended me for a student co-op position. I had no idea what orthopedics was at the time, but I was interested in a parttime and summer job in the science world. The opportunity came at a perfect time. I am learning so much and gaining immersive experience. I have also taken my volleyball and sports experience to the lab here at Concordia since it is all about teamwork and collaboration that gets things done. There are distinct parallels in my student life and my personal values that relate directly to what we do here at Concordia. Full story on page 10 ➞


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