ANNUAL REPORT 2025 / 2026
Healing Through  
Aqua Therapy 
Recovery came through countless hours of therapy, hard 
work, and support from his care team. He describes it as 
feeling like he was back at national team training camp. 
“Everyone from the therapists to the housekeeping staff 
wanted to help me succeed.”
While he credits his recovery in part to the 
hospital’s holistic approach to care, there was 
one place where movement felt different — the 
therapeutic pool. The water was its own special 
kind of medicine. 
“The pool gave me a real sense of safety and freedom,” he 
says. “You aren’t carrying your full body weight, so you can 
try more. It gave me opportunities I wouldn’t have anywhere 
else.” Supported by recreation therapists, he practiced 
walking, running, and rebuilding strength in his upper body. 
Just four weeks after arriving at the Glenrose, he walked out 
of the hospital on his own.
For thousands of Albertans, his story reflects what’s possible 
when specialized rehabilitation includes aqua therapy.
Before its closure in November 2024, the Glenrose 
therapeutic pool supported more than 6,000 patients each 
year. Children learning to take their first independent steps, 
adults recovering from stroke or spinal cord injuries, and 
older adults rebuilding strength after illness all relied on the 
unique benefits of water-based rehabilitation. 
Two years ago, Oral O’Gilvie faced one 
of the biggest competitions of his life. 
The pool gave me a 
real sense of safety 
and freedom.
– Oral O’Gilvie
It was the summer of 1992, Jamaican-born triple 
jumper Oral O’Gilvie was representing Team 
Canada at the Barcelona Olympics. “I was in the 
best shape of my life,” he shares of that time. 
Today, O’Gilvie, who has since retired from 
professional sport, still carries the same athlete 
mentality that shaped his career: passionate, 
disciplined, and resilient. It’s that mindset, he says, 
that helped guide him through recovery after a 
stroke in May 2024 shook his life. 
“I was on the golf course with my friend when my 
speech started to slur,” he says. “But I was in denial; 
there was no way I was having a stroke.”
O’Gilvie’s golf partner quickly recognized the signs 
and symptoms and called for help. 
“From the time I had my stroke to the time I got to 
the hospital, it was only 45 minutes.” Still, when he 
woke up the next morning, he had no sensation 
on the entire left side of his body. Two weeks 
later, O’Gilvie was transferred to the Glenrose 
Rehabilitation Hospital. 
“When I first got here, I needed two people to help 
me do everything,” he recalls. “Walking, showering, 
using the washroom. I couldn’t do it on my own.” 

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.