Pat and her husband David have been Extend exercise instructors and trainers for over 30 years covering the North of England including their home town in Leeds.
Pat was diagnosed with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) back in 1996 and one thing that struck her was the lack of support available for post pulmonary support, so Pat did what Pat does best and comes up with a plan to set her own post pulmonary support exercise and support group up!
This wasn’t easy for her, having to come to terms with a new disability and learning how to live with it while trying to develop something that just didn’t exist! But she wasn’t on her own – David was by her side supporting her and giving her hope in her dark days.
2020 Pre-Covid
Fast forward to 2020 and they have built a successful group who they say “are like a family” and over this time have supported too many people to count who are living with respiratory conditions and their carers. Pat become well known in the health world too and has often been invited to share her amazing story at events.
Covid-19
In March 2020 took the UK by storm and they were forced to close their exercise and peer support groups, while this was devastating news for everyone involved, Pat and Dave along with Susan and Josie rallied round and began calling all the group members to keep them up to date and check in that they were all ok….after all that’s what you do for your family!
As the groups are not able to meet face to face the concerns were about how people would be able to continue with their long term rehabilitation so they joined the volunteer leader’s virtual meetings which was set up by their local Peer Support Coordinator, where together joined other groups and began sharing ideas, leading on from this they then formulated a plan to adapt the exercise classes into virtual sessions.
Of course they needed support around the digital side and the 100% digital team stepped in to offer some practical guides to help them get online. Within three weeks they were online Zooming and being able to take part in their exercise sessions and of course have that vital peer support.
What’s next?
So now what? Take it easy? No! How else could Pat use her skills, knowledge and experience to continue to support everyone during Covid 19? Well did you know that she is pretty handy with a sowing machine? Both Pat and David are now making designer face masks for their local GP practice and to thank both Stacey and Rachel for all their time and support they made them one too!