To the editor:
It is my understanding the Parkinson Activity Centre will be closed for repair before too long. As a member of the activity centre, I have a suggestion which could be undertaken during the closure.
I attend the painting session which meets on a weekly basis in the activity room on the second floor of the centre. A number of other groups also meet in this room, including table tennis. A rather difficult problem occurs when members of the painting group try to access tables required for their activity. There is a dearth of storage space—table tennis tables are literally jammed into one of the storage rooms and one of them must be moved in order to access the tables as well as the storage cupboard. To accomplish this, occasionally material, used by other groups, must be moved as well.
While the table tennis table is on wheels, moving it is difficult, especially for a senior woman. After one such session, I required a visit to the chiropractor.
We are required to leave the room in the same condition as when we arrived—thus, the table must be shoved back into the limited space available. It would seem the storage aspect was overlooked in the planning of the building.
There is no staff member available to assist in this exercise—I guess funds are not available to hire a custodian or someone to provide a helping hand when such problems occur at the activity centre.
I would suggest, therefore, additional storage space be constructed. There is plenty of space in the activity room and I’m sure with the expert planning department at city hall, a reasonable storage addition could be built.
Avona Christiansen,
Kelowna
