Photo by Lara Swimmer, photo courtesy Snohomish School District
SNOHOMISH — Mother and daughter Elizabeth and Kelly Holderman began going to Snohomish Aquatic Center together as a way to bond. Kelly Holderman, 72, has been going to the center for a few years, her daughter joining more recently in May.
Soon after Elizabeth joined, the aquatic center’s schedule shifted into its summer schedule. The seasonal schedule significantly reduced Open Fitness hours, which include water and river walking, from 91.5 to 31.5 hours weekly through Labor Day.
“During the summer we maximize the majority of our programming to center on youth summer swim and dive lessons, our youth summer swim team, summer water fitness, and open rec facility swim time,” the Snohomish School District’s spokeswoman Kristin Foley wrote over email. The district owns the aquatic center.
The new summer schedule for water walking and river walking at the Snohomish Aquatic Center restricts access to early mornings and late evenings, which many of the senior patrons have difficulty attending.
“During summertime, we understand the need for new lessons and more recreational swims from the school district, which we appreciate. However, the drastic reduction in pool time—more than halved—to accommodate additional fitness classes was challenging for us as walkers,” Kelly Holderman said.
After experiencing this change with her mother and hearing similar concerns from other patrons, Elizabeth Holderman started a petition to prioritize seniors’ open fitness during summer at the Snohomish Aquatic Center.
“It feels like they’re prioritizing revenue over the needs of these groups. The center has a large fitness class schedule, but with very few participants, it doesn’t make sense why they can’t share the center as they do from fall to spring,” Elizabeth Holderman said.
The petition initially aimed for 50 signatures and has now reached 80.
Kelly Holderman had a hip replacement surgery in 2020, but due to the pandemic she couldn’t get the surgery immediately. “For months, all I could do was walk in the pool since other options were not feasible for me,” she said.
Some of the senior patrons of the pool are in similar positions.
Jason Morse was a regular at the Aquatic Center, going six days a week due to health issues and his compromised lungs. In anticipation of the summer changes, Morse inquired about accommodations for water walkers at the aquatic center, but none were made, leaving him struggling to adjust.
“Due to my lung issues, I can’t use the competition pool, so I’m restricted to the shallow areas,” Morse said. “I used to spend nearly three hours daily at the pool, which greatly helped my sleep apnea. Previously, I could only sleep an hour or so at a time, but now I can manage about five hours, which was enormous for me. However, with the limited early morning water walking hours, I find myself waking up every hour or hour and a half again.”
David and Marygertrude Korn, too, use the Aquatic Center for rehabilitative uses. David Korn has a heart condition and Marygertrude Korn had an illness earlier in the year that left her on various medications that required the pool walking to facilitate movement.
“We go for our health, the pool was the one thing that comforted her and helped her build strength,” David Korn said. “We need this for our health, the pool is the most important thing to us besides our marriage.”
In addition to open fitness hours, the Aquatic Center offers various paid fitness classes. While access to the center is free, the classes require a fee. Some insurance covers part of these fees, but many patrons find the classes less appealing and not a suitable alternative to open fitness sessions.
“I have done the classes before, but to be honest with you, a lot of times they’re not really classes,” Marygertrude Korn said. “They’re more with videos on the screen, and then they’re in the water in front of the video.”
Elizabeth Holderman’s petition addresses all these concerns, urging management to reassess the class schedules.
Foley, for the Aquatic Center, said “the Snohomish Aquatic Center schedules look similar from year to year, but we are always assessing community-wide needs. We adjust when needed based on feedback, the programs we offer, and the staff we have available to run and oversee the safety of our facility.”
Petition
To see the petition, go to https://chng.it/6dJ8jdRxWw
