Mary and Joe Bryant

Drawing on their talents to support The Rehabilitation Centre

When Mary and Joe Bryant asked friends to donate stories for a book of memories from Christmases and winters past, they never anticipated the great response they would receive. Nor the $2,200 that the book would eventually raise for one of their favourite community services—The Rehabilitation Centre at The Ottawa Hospital.

Married for 53 years, these two long-time residents of Alta Vista are very familiar with the vital role The Rehabilitation Centre (TRC) plays in our community. Both Mary and Joe volunteer at the Centre, and Mary has also been a patient, receiving therapy for mobility issues related to her childhood polio.

Their book, entitled “Then…Friends Sharing Memories,” sold for $15 a copy. It is filled with more than 100 short stories as remembered by Mary and Joe’s friends from across Canada, and each story is illustrated by Mary’s sketches.

Wanting to directly help rehabilitation patients, the Bryants donated the proceeds toward the purchase of specialized equipment for the TRC’s computer lab. The lab helps disabled patients communicate in new ways using computers. Thanks to their donation, the lab has two new pieces of equipment. The voice recognition tool lets a patient speak into a microphone and the words appear on the screen. The ‘sip and puff’ machine allows patients to control the keyboard by inhaling and exhaling to write their thoughts on the screen.

“Staff at The Rehabilitation Centre is really excited about the machine and we are so pleased that we could help them,” says Mary. But they don’t feel that their contribution is necessarily extraordinary—in fact, they believe anyone can find a way to support an important community asset like The Ottawa Hospital.

“Anyone can put their talents to work for a good cause like this one,” she says. “We are just a couple of retirees who had an idea that ended up helping our community. If we can do it, anyone can!”