Therapeutic pool’s closure decried

When the Salvation Army announced earlier this month that a tight budget will force the closure of its therapeutic pool by April 30, swimmers and other pool users responded with dozens of upset phone calls, letters and e-mails.

Gene Bronson, a longtime pool user, has been especially persistent.

“I’m 90 years old, and I have high blood pressure, so typically I feel cold all the time,” Bronson said. “This pool is an amazingly well-run pool, and it’s great for people like me to do lap swimming.”

The potential closure had Bronson all fired up.

“Someone should call Avista and have them lower the power rates over there,” he said. “We just have to get the word out. Some of the service clubs could help them out, I am certain of it.”

But so far, no one has come forward and it looks like therapeutic pool users will be best off moving over to the YMCA’s brand new aquatics facility, which is set to open on May 1.

Spokane Salvation Army Corps Captain Kyle Smith said that at this point the Salvation Army is not set up to do a major fundraising campaign specifically for the pool, and that the best solution would be to have one committed donor claim the pool. It would take $100,000 to keep it open for a year, or $2.5 million in a foundation to keep the pool open from now on.

“Piecemeal is not going to work at this stage, it’s an all-or-nothing deal,” Smith said. “In this economic climate we can’t ask people for $25 here and $100 there, if in the end all we come up with is $11,000 – and then we still can’t save the pool.”

Smith said an opportunity to apply for grants that support therapeutic aquatics had perhaps been missed in previous years, but the main reason why the pool is being closed is that the Salvation Army is seeing increased demands on its core programs.

“I do feel bad every time I see the people who use the pool,” said Smith. “They are as needing and deserving as anyone else in the population. But we just can’t afford to keep it open right now.”

The pool will not be torn down or converted to a different use, Smith said. The plan is to close the door and turn off the heat.

“We aren’t going to empty it,” Smith said. “It’s my understanding that we can turn off the heat and leave it like it is until November, before we have to start worrying about freezing and such.”

On May 1, the central YMCA-YWCA is set to open a brand new aquatics facility which includes a therapeutic pool.

YMCA staff has been meeting with Salvation Army pool users and staff.

“We are going to do everything we can to welcome them at the YMCA,” said Jeff Polello, association aquatics director with the YMCA. “Not everyone will find exactly what they are looking for, and some may wish we’d done some things differently, but we do have three pools.”

The biggest difference is that the therapeutic pool at the YMCA is smaller than the one at the Salvation Army. At 94 degrees it’s a bit warmer, but it’s just five feet deep at the deepest end – and the longest side is 30 feet, Polello said.

“It’s not real conducive for lap swimming,” he said.

The YMCA pools all have lifts and stairs, and there is no extra pool charge for members of the YMCA.

Parking is free there, just like at the Salvation Army.

The YMCA’s Membership For All program, which is funded by donations, allows people with low incomes to join on a sliding scale basis.

Polello said he hopes the YMCA can fill some of the displaced swimmers’ needs. On Friday, YMCA staff will be at the Salvation Army pool handing out information and answering questions.

“We’ll do all we can to dispel their fears,” Polello said.