This one came home

By day, the 24-year old works as a certified therapeutic recreation specialist at Digby General Hospital where she helps people adapt to medical conditions and disabilities. Her role is to help re-create rewarding and full lives for themselves, rather than ‘giving up.’

“For example,” says Frankland, “I had a person who loved playing crib, but he was losing his vision. By adapting both the deck of cards and the crib board, he was able to keep playing. I also take people on outings—to keep them involved in their community.”

Community involvement is a bit of a compulsion for Frankland, and she traces it back to her childhood. “I have two brothers--one older and one younger--and my parents always kept us really busy. That way they knew where we were,” she says.

Frankland became a soccer coach at age 16. “I wanted to play but they didn’t have a team that summer for my age group. My parents coached t-ball, and my mom coached cross-country running as well. My dad told me coaching was the next best thing to playing so I coached the under-eights that summer, and I completed my referee certification.”

By the time Frankland graduated from Digby Regional High, in addition to coaching soccer, she had participated in cross-country running, track and field, swimming, soccer, basketball, and badminton. She says she was also took part in school parliament and was president in her grade 12 year, organized the Spring Fling and the 30-hour famine, and helped out with grad committee and yearbook.

At Dalhousie University, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in therapeutic recreation, while playing intra-mural sports, and volunteering with disabled children. When she graduated, she took her exam to become a certified therapeutic recreation specialist.

She says she had a real desire to return to Digby—it was not just her home, but the home of her boyfriend, David Sabean—but had doubts about finding a job in Digby. Her field was a relatively new one and there was a not yet a demand for CTRSs in smaller towns.

But Frankland found a job at Tideview Terrace where she worked until last May when she was hired by the hospital.

“I had done my internship in Yarmouth Hospital with a CTRS who has been a huge advocate for recreation therapy in our area. When this new (therapeutic) unit was accepted for Digby hospital they knew that a recreation therapist would be an important part of the team.

Charlotte admits she has always been “a bit bossy” and says that trait works out well for her, especially as a soccer coach. She’s currently coaching Under-14 girls and Under-12 girls.

“I want my girls to win,” she says, “and I want them to work hard.”

Frankland is also a strong believer in the value of teamwork, “and my girls are expected to be respectful, to refs and to other players.

Frankland says that she believes the golden rule is as important on the sports field as it is in every day life.

“I guess, in the long-term, I just hope I will have been a positive influence in their lives.”