Date: 13 May, 2026
Time: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm (MT)

Join us on Wednesday, May 13 from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm as we hear about three different Alberta-based middle-aged and older adults falls prevention programs. These include NOT Falling For You (Edmonton area), Gentle Fitness (Calgary), and Steady Moves (Lethbridge / Medicine Hat).

NOT Falling For You: Implementing a Volunteer Peer-Led Falls Prevention Program

This session will share the NOT Falling For You (NFFY) community-based, volunteer peer‑led falls‑prevention program for community‑dwelling older adults. This session will highlight how the program has been implemented and expanded across the Edmonton area and beyond. Presenters will describe how clinical expertise and health‑promotion principles shaped the program’s design, and how community partnerships make it possible to offer classes at little or no cost. Attendees will learn how volunteer peer leaders are recruited and trained to safely guide sessions that include warm‑ups, targeted strength work, progressive balance training, cool‑downs, and brief falls‑prevention discussions.

The presentation will cover coordination processes, partnerships, grant-supported training, and practical considerations for launching and sustaining community-based exercise programs. Participants will also hear about program outcomes and feedback from older adults who have experienced improved confidence, strength, and balance through NFFY.

City of Calgary Gentle Fitness Programing

This session will share the City of Calgary Gentle Fitness programming, which offers opportunities for participants with varied functional abilities to participate safely and confidently in community exercise classes.  You’ll learn the intent behind the three-level structure, how each level aligns to participant functional ability (rather than age or diagnosis), and how consistent level parameters support safe delivery across sites and instructors. The presentation also highlights instructor training and practical guidance on where participants and partners can find program information.

Steady Moves

Steady Moves is an 8-week falls prevention series supporting older adults. Each session features a 30-minute presentation by a practitioner on evidence-based fall prevention strategies, followed by a one-hour exercise class designed to build strength and improve balance.

The program has been operating since 2025 in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Redcliff through the Population Health Promotion Program (Primary Care Alberta), in collaboration with many valuable community partners.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the core components and evidence-informed structure of community-based programs.

• Explain how volunteers and community partners support accessible program delivery.

• Identify practical steps for implementing and sustaining community-based falls prevention programs.

• Learn components of best-practice falls prevention exercise programs.

• Identify key Finding Balance resources that support community-based falls prevention programs.

Speaker Bios:

Naomi Fowler - BSc Kin, MSc OT

Naomi Fowler is an Occupational Therapist and Health Promotion Facilitator on the Edmonton Zone Population Health Promotion Team. Prior to this position, Naomi worked for over a decade in community settings as a home care OT in Ontario, Connecticut and Alberta. Many of the clients Naomi worked with experienced a life altering injury due to a fall or were at risk of falling. This led her to want to be involved in more upstream programming that focused on falls prevention. Naomi enjoys working with different communities throughout Edmonton and empowering individuals to learn new skills so they can continue participating in meaningful occupations throughout their life.  In her spare time, Naomi enjoys spending time with her family, running, coaching her kids’ ice hockey teams and playing ball hockey.

Cathy Gladwin - Msc in Health Promotion

Cathy is a Health Promotion Facilitator on the Edmonton Zone Population Health Promotion team.  Cathy has worked in injury prevention since the last millennium. After many years at the Injury Prevention Centre, Cathy joined Alberta Health Services in 2021. Cathy has contributed to injury prevention in several areas including policy analysis and advocacy, knowledge translation, partnership building, and program development and implementation. Cathy has worked on prevention of everything from childhood injuries to older adults falls, advocacy for graduated drivers licensing to bicycle helmet and all-terrain vehicle legislation, policy development for concussion prevention and management, and the Safety Guidelines for Physical Activity in Alberta Schools. Cathy enjoys downhill skiing, riding her horse, Dylan, scuba diving and golfing (badly).

Andy Kitchen - BSc-Kin, CSEP-CEP, NSCA-CSCS, Fitness AB Trainer

Andy is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist (CSEP), Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (NSCA) and Fitness Alberta Leader and Trainer.  Andy has been a Recreation Program Specialist supervising community fitness programs for 18 years and is also the creator for the City of Calgary Gentle Fitness Program model.  Known for her high energy, she has a passion for creating inclusive and fun filled fitness environments that offer appropriate challenges for each individual.

Megan Burland & Melissa Schlenker, Health Promotion Facilitator, Primary Care Alberta - Lethbridge & Medicine Hat

Megan Burland and Melissa Schlenker are Health Promotion Facilitators with Primary Care Alberta, based in southern Alberta. With unique backgrounds, they come together to offer programming to their communities that are both educational and engaging.

Through her rich experience in health promotion, Megan’s work has focused on injury prevention spanning all stages of life and includes a special passion for work in tobacco reduction. Utilizing the latest data and research, Megan is helping to shift the health care landscape to prevention and promotion.

With a background in recreation therapy and fitness leadership, Melissa has supported diverse populations across multiple settings including work with older adults, community-based recreation therapy, and stroke rehabilitation. New to the health promotion scene, she’s eager to combine her previous experience with a focus on preventative care.

Megan and Melissa enjoy facilitating Steady Moves, as they are passionate about working in community and empowering clients to take steps to protect themselves from preventable injuries, build confidence and stay active.