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ANNOUNCER: From our region to yours, this is...
I'm Richard Lefebvre for Accessible Media
in Drayton Valley, Alberta.
We are at the Alberta Parks'
Adaptive Parkland Challenge,
enjoying the great outdoors
with the Push to Open program
where everyone belongs outside.
NARRATOR: A group of volunteers walk
beside two participants in TrailRiders,
aluminum-framed mobility vehicles
with reclining seats and a single pneumatic tire.
TrailRiders are pushed, pulled and guided
by able-bodied sherpas,
the human power providers to the vehicle.
RICHARD: Don Carruthers Den Hoed
is with the Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation.
Don, could you tell us about Push to Open?
The Push to Open nature initiative
is part of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation's plan
for parks and it's a plan to make parks more inclusive,
so that everybody can enjoy the natural world
and all of its benefits.
What Push to Open does is it's a program
to identify barriers to participation
for people of any ability to come out to parks
and protected areas,
and to create inclusive opportunities
that provide adaptive reaction or volunteer support
or even just encouragement
so that people can know that they come to parks,
feel welcome and have a great experience.
NARRATOR: Don and a volunteer unload and assemble a TrailRider vehicle.
Once assembled, Don assists a participant
into the seat to be secured for the ride.
DON: The program is really about bringing together people,
bringing together agencies with equipment
like a bus or an accessible bicycle or a TrailRider,
and bringing together volunteers who are able-bodied
or not to come and pull that equipment or be the horsepower.
And then we provide the experience
around a weekend just to showcase what's possible
and to also do it in a natural setting and educate people
about the role of parks and protected areas.
This is Shelley Munch.
She's a second-year participant
with the Push to Open program.
Can you tell us about your experience
with the Push to Open program?
Last year I met them in the mountains. Okay.
I was feeling very trapped by my disease,
and we ran into the cook.
And he told us that they were all at the lodge.
That all these people with A quadriplegic
All these people with major disabilities
had just come back from a five-day
outback overnight experience, you know?
And we were shocked.
And I just got so excited.
And I just had to meet everybody that ran it.
And they were very encouraging to me.
And they said that they would get me there.
So came last year just for the Saturday.
Went in the TrailRider for the first time.
And I was hooked.
RICHARD: Do you find that your experience with Push to Open
has changed your outlook in life?
SHELLEY: Definitely. I came back last year from meeting them
even just totally different.
My husband said it was like somebody had flipped a switch.
I used to be very sports oriented.
I used to power lift.
And I really missed it.
And I think that's where my being down
and trapped feeling came from.
So now I can do sports again.
And for me, that's just...
like life coming back.
RICHARD: Chris Ha has been volunteering with Push to Open since 2008.
Chris, how did you get involved with Push to Open?
Well, like I said, you know, Don called me.
And you know, come here and sit down and plan.
And I had no idea what we were planning.
But I know that we would be working with disabilities
and we were going to the mountains.
And that's all I care.
RICHARD: If you would like more information about programs
offered by Alberta Parks,
check out their website at www.albertaparks.ca.
In Drayton Valley, Alberta,
this is Richard Lefebvre for Accessible Media.