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arthritic conditions and babies. As a certified pool operator,
Maggie checks all pool water levels regularly. (The pool uses
salt water chlorination.) For infants and small children,
testing pool water is extremely important and performed two
or more times a day.
This past year, 130 infants and children participated in the
Meadows Wellness Center swim classes. Swim instructors are
also available for private lessons throughout the year. Three
categories of classes are offered. “Star Babies is for babies six
to thirty-six months old,” said Maggie. “At that point, we are
teaching breath control and how to float on their own. If they
master these skills, I will teach them to float, roll over onto
their backs, and to grab the wall. We call that ‘swim, float,
swim.’ Swim school is for ages 3 through 5 with five different
levels. Each level meets different benchmark swimming and
survival skills. The third class offered is Stroke School. We
offer Stroke School classes as well.”
As important as education and skills in the water have
always been for Maggie, her commitment went to a whole new
level in August 2018 with the birth of her son Leo. “The first
thing I did was to ensure that the instructor for Star Babies
at the Wellness Center was a mom,” said Maggie. “I did not
think that a high school student or someone who did not have
children should teach this class. The second thing I did was
write a whole new curriculum for our starfish baby classes
with Leo in mind.”
It’s more important than ever for parents to be vigilant
when our children are near water whether at the beach or
around home pools, saunas, and hot tubs. With today’s
cellphone use, it’s so easy to become distracted. In an article by
Josh Hafner for USA Today’s European online edition entitled,
“Child drownings linked to phone-distracted parents who fail
to look up,” he writes, “Community health advocates in Fort
Worth, Texas, pleaded with parents last year to ‘lifeguard your
child’ by putting down their phones at the pool. ‘I don’t think
parents understand how quickly and quietly drowning occurs,’
Sharon Evans, an outreach coordinator for Cook Children's
hospital, said in a statement. ‘There is no thrashing, no yelling
for help. The drowning child is just trying to push down on the
water to get their head above the surface to gasp a breath of
air.’”
Drowning has been called the silent killer. “The struggle
of a drowning person is brief,” writes Jennifer Graham in an
article posted August 1, 2016 for Deseret News online website.
“‘Small children, ages 3 or 4, can go under in 20 seconds,’”
quoting Pia, a lifeguard and lifeguard supervisor for more than
two decades. “‘Adults can last a bit longer, up to 60 seconds.
Children can drown within arm’s reach of their parents, and
they don’t even realize it.’”
By speaking out, Maggie has made educating our
community and empowering our children a priority. “Now
is the best time to enroll your children,” said Maggie. “Let
us teach them one of the most important skills that could
one day potentially save their lives.” USA gold medalist
in swimming, Missy Franklin, once said, “A huge part of
swimming for me is I love it, and it is so much fun.” Learning
to swim is not only a survival skill for our children, but a life
skill for them to enjoy. And Maggie and the swim instructors
at Meadows Wellness Center are doing their part to make that
happen.