With a bit of help from PSW Tracey Anderson, Kelvin pulls himself up from his wheelchair and clasps the handles of his walker. From her phone, music begins to play.
It's a remix of Matthew Wilder's 1983 classic, Break My Stride.
The lyrics are fitting for a man who has gone from being mostly bedridden and requiring a full Hoyer lift to transfer out of bed to moving to the music as he slowly, confidently makes his way down the neighbourhood hallway.
"Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride. Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh no. I've got to keep on movin'."
Tracey sings along as she walks beside Kelvin. The music is part of the motivation, and they're always finding new songs to add to the playlist. They walk every day she's working on the neighbourhood, and many other team members have played a key role in Kelvin's remarkable transformation.
Before moving to The Village of Taunton Mills in December 2024, Kelvin says he was a shell of himself. The progression of Parkinson's disease had robbed him of much of his mobility, and he could see the toll his growing care needs were taking on his wife.
"I could see it weighing on her," he says. "I didn't get out of bed for three and a half years."
Eventually, the decision was made to find a home in long-term care.
Kelvin didn't know what to expect, but what he found was a team dedicated not only to supporting residents, but to helping them improve whenever improvement is possible.
"Their approach to this work is out of this world," he says of the team at the Village. From the PSWs to the dining team, Recreation and the Program for Active Living, everyone rallied around him after he made the decision to, as he puts it, "deny the progression of the disease."
Some 18 months later, he has done just that. He has defied the decline that had defined his life for more than a decade, and now he has his sights set on returning home.
"He's an inspiration to us all," says Tracey after Kelvin settles back into his chair. "He has such a strong mind, a beautiful heart, and such a beautiful soul. He deserves it, and he's going to get exactly where he needs to go."
As the music plays on, Kelvin smiles.
"Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh no. I've got to keep on moving."
