One of the hardest things for people who get injured on the job, and are off work, is that they have all this free time. And there's no socializing, as well. While in the fully equipped gym and other treatment rooms in the Thomson Centre, program participants get to socialize. Scoffin says this helps them stave off the depression, which is common among injured workers. The people who run P.O.W.E.R. have no problem filling a six-hour day with activity.
Clients come in the morning and do some different cardiovascular exercises and a weight workout.
They spend a lot of time stretching under the watchful eye of the workers on staff. It's sort of a work simulation. If the person is a laborer, then we look at what demands would be placed on them when they went back to work, and we try to imitate those as much as possible. Scoffin has clients try carrying, pushing and pulling. Sam Holloway is an electrician.