Kathryn Willey will not reveal her age.

Vancouver’s only ActNow senior ambassador with the provincial Ministry of Health, Willey defers the question about her date of birth. She won’t even give a decade. “I’m trying to stay young,” she exclaimed. “I’m not going to tell you how old I am.”

Young at heart, youthful in body and spry in mind, Willey says she comes from a family of 13 and age is kept closely guarded. “I have many sisters. If I give my age away, it betrays them all.”

Age may be a state of mind, and Willey has two strategies to tame the constant tick of time. She volunteers every day with hundreds of people each week across Metro Vancouver and she exercises.

She’s made a personal commitment to physical fitness twice a week. She intends to set an example by visiting a new, attractive, versatile but largely neglected outdoor gym in the northwest corner of Tisdall Park near Oak Street at 49th Avenue.

The seniors wellness park was installed a year ago following a $100,000 grant from the province. At a cost of $1.8 million, 17 similar parks are located in communities around B.C. The City of Vancouver chose the Tisdall site because of its proximity to adult care homes and four community centres. A shelter may be installed to cover the outdoor park.

Just shy of five hectares, Tisdall Park includes soccer fields and baseball diamonds, a walking path, trees and benches. The 13 pieces of wellness equipment are free to use and stand immediately beside a child’s playground in a conscious attempt to mingle diverse crowds and draw families outside together.

Designed by a U.S. company, the gym equipment is either low resistance or relies on a user’s body weight and can be infinitely adapted to target core muscle groups as well as agility, balance, flexibility, joint mobility and cardio strength. Some of the equipment has no moving parts but is built from steps and bars of different height to allow users to customize their workout in a manner reminiscent of a rehabilitation clinic.

More than 20,000 Canadian seniors fracture a hip each year. According to Vancouver’s Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, such an injury will compromise the independence of many seniors. Targeted exercise programs can enhance bone strength and may contribute to recovery or even fracture prevention.

Yet the 13 pieces of exercise equipment are often idle, rarely used in Vancouver. Similar seniors parks in other B.C. locations are also underused, although they are immensely popular in Cranbrook and especially Tsawwassen, where seniors lobbied for the inaugural park in 2007.

In response to the minimal use, the Ministry of Health released instructional videos last month to show seniors how to use the stair climber, back press, leg lift and other stationary gear.

Alison Schnaiberg works in community engagement with ActNow B.C., a government program with a goal of increasing physical activity across the province by 20 per cent this year. She stressed the versatility of the equipment and said healthy seniors live more self-sufficient and independent lives, from playing with grandchildren to unloading groceries.

This is why Willey will be exercising more. “It means I can get out and do my volunteer work. I’m not sitting at home looking at walls—I’m making a difference in someone’s life.”

mstewart@vancourier.com