A Gentle Stroke Volunteers, Disabled Swimmers Thrive Together In Ywca Morning Program

The boy’s legs were dead in the water until 89-year-old Hubert Jordan pushed them up and down in a kicking motion.

A woman swam on her back as she tried to teach another boy - who was bigger than she was - to float.

Most of the 20 children with disabilities at the YWCA pool Thursday morning couldn’t swim on their own. But they did benefit from being in the pool.

“Some of these children have no other means of exercising,” said Marjorie Anselmo, a YWCA worker.

Volunteers who work with the children in the 30-year-old adaptive swimming program don’t push them to master the breast stroke or back stroke.

Instead, they adapt what they teach to the capabilities of each individual, said Anselmo, who was a program volunteer for three years before joining the YWCA staff 17 years ago.

The 30 volunteers also work with the elderly, people who have been injured in accidents or who have lost mobility because of an illness.

On Mondays and Thursdays, the volunteers work in half-hour sessions with groups of disabled children who are bused in from Spokane schools.

Jordan began volunteering in 1986 after he started swimming with a friend who lost a leg.

To hear his wife tell it, Jordan hardly talks about anything except his work helping disabled children swim.

“He loves it,” Katherine Jordan said. “He’s always been good with children.”

She said her husband was especially touched when one girl, who usually refused to talk, tried to whisper in his ear.

He couldn’t understand what she was trying to say, but her effort to communicate thrilled him.

“He gets really excited about the progress some of them make,” she said.

Hubert Jordan said the work has taught him how well off he is as a healthy adult.

“I never knew before how rewarding it was to work with children,” he said. “They love me and I love them.”

A few of the children, such as Andy George, a Ferris High School student, don’t want help from a volunteer.

The 18-year-old with Down syndrome was in the pool’s shallow end Thursday.

He took some steps, dunked his head in the water and gurgled.

George’s father, Charles, said the swimming sessions are the primary physical activity for his son, who suffered a stroke at age 2 and also has heart problems.

“He enjoys it. He’ll say in the morning, ‘I’m not going swimming.’ But when he gets here, he’s ready to go,” Charles George said.

Watching the pool scene Thursday, Anselmo marveled at the dedication of the volunteers and the effort put forth by the children.

“You read in the fashion magazines about the beautiful people,” she said. “But I think these are the beautiful people.”