We Are IH: Vernon physiotherapist hikes the Great Divide Trail

October 27, 2022

Kerry hiking the Great Divide Trail near the 1,100 kilometre mark.

Name: Kerry Carlson (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Physiotherapist (Community Care)
Years of Service: 30
Worksite: Vernon Jubilee Hospital
Community: Vernon
Ancestral Territory: Syilx Okanagan
Favourite Quote / Advice to live by: “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always!” — Robin Williams

Kerry Carlson was born and raised in the small community of Morinville, Alta. She graduated from the UBC School of Physical Therapy in 1992 after an initial career in medical research. Kerry traded test tubes for people, and started a new physiotherapy career at Queen Victoria Hospital in the lovely mountain town of Revelstoke.

It was in October 1992, that Kerry first walked into Vernon Jubilee Hospital and was hired as a casual physiotherapist.

In this Story…

Learn more about her journey with IH

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Learn more about her journey with IH

Man and woman on mountain top wearing ball caps and hiking gear, doing side push ups. — Kerry and her husband, Tom, at the 400 kilometre mark of the Great Divide Trail in 2021.

She has worked with inpatients, outpatients, employee rehabilitation, occupational rehab, and now home health.

Physical therapy is a wonderful profession. We build relationships and inspire people to function independently. In home health, our clients are not in hospital gowns on wards. We step into their lives. We see photos of their weddings, children and grandchildren, and gain a true understanding of what they need to do to function in their worlds.

-- Kerry Carlson

One of Kerry’s proudest achievements at Interior Health is an agility class for seniors that she developed with her coworker, Tera Mezynski. It was implemented at the Halina Centre in Vernon before the pandemic. The program helped participants improve cognitive skills, memory, attention, balance, strength, speed of gait, task performance and more.

As a mom of two children, Sage and Sierra, near and dear to Kerry’s heart was lobbying to eliminate the use of pesticides on school grounds in her community, a project she took on way back in 2001. “It took 10 years but our kids are worth it,” says Kerry. “That’s what kept me going.”

In her time outside of work, Kerry is a Lindy Hopper. She’s also a tap dancer and avid bicycle commuter, and she loves to watch foreign films. She’s passionate about long distance trail hiking and running, evidenced by her achievement in completing 800 kilometres of the Great Divide Trail with her husband, Tom, during the summer of 2021. Stretching across the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains between Alberta and B.C. for 1,123 kilometres, it’s considered to be one of the most challenging (and spectacular) long‐distance trails on the planet. Kerry and Tom completed the remaining 323 kilometres of the trail in the summer of 2022.

“It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world and it’s in our own backyard. We are very fortunate.”

Woman with blonde pigtails standing on a table between two orange Adirondack chairs, arms raised, with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background. — Kerry was very happy to reach the end of the Great Divide Trail.

A rather uncommon fun fact about Kerry is the number of relatives she has in her extended family. “I have 54 first cousins, and I can dance a mean polka because of all the family weddings I attended as a kid!”