“Usually within two sessions, they’ve picked up
the drowning skills,” B.J. Snyder said. By their
second sign-up, the children are working on
“doggy paddling.”
After the age of five, children have the
opportunity to sign up for private swim lessons.
“The most common calls I get are ‘We live
next to X body of water. Either a pool or a pond
or there’s a lake nearby and they’re starting to
run. We want to be able to know that they have
at least some skill,” Benjamin Snyder explained.
The younger children start in the water being
held by their parents and participating in circle
time. “They go under water for the first time, and
we give them a nice, loud verbal ‘One, two, three!’
We blow in the center of the face, and they have
an instinct to then hold their breath. It’s really
pretty adorable,” he said. “Then you dip them
down and bring them right back up. You’re not
letting go, they’re not going all the way down to
the bottom – it’s just a quick dip and it gets them
used to the feeling.
“Since it’s a 92-degree saltwater therapy pool,
it’s an easier transition for them. They’re used
to a sink or a tub for their baths, but the open
water can be very intimidating for them. When
it’s open (and) when you’re there with a parent,
all those things bring a certain level of comfort.”
The Kay and Jim Morrissey Advanced Therapy
Center was added to the Home of the Innocents
in 2010 to aid medically fragile children and
those at the pediatric convalescence center.
Those children had been visiting another pool
in the area, but transportation and the difficulty
of dressing made a local pool a luxury addition.
“The concept was deemed for this facility and
it was built within a relatively short amount of
time, and it’s beautiful,” Snyder said. The water
temperature is kept at 92 degrees, “and it’s all
catered to children with special consideration,”
Snyder added. “We have a wheelchair ramp that
goes all the way down into the water. We have
aquatic wheelchairs here that you can transfer
into. (A chair lift) was actually custom built for
us … and we have one floating ventilator here,
and it’s one of the only ones that we know of. We
have swim time at least once a week for kids on
trachs and vents. During that time, we clear out
the facility from everyone else. We can’t really
have them splashing or the turbulence. It’s really
fulfilling to see kids who would normally never
be near water with a little floating ventilator near
them moving around.”
The public Baby Splash swim classes help pay
for the upkeep of the pool and the instructors, but
they also give kids the confidence to eventually
swim on their own. The majority of Baby Splash
class participants learn about the program
through word of mouth, like Car