Grinnell Mutual Aquatic Center Wheelchair Access

**Update! We did it! Funds are raised and the check had been written to the city/pool and they are ordering the pool access wheelchair chair and it will

be available next pool season! Great job everyone and THANK YOU***

Contributing funds to this cause helps give access to the pool to community members who use wheelchairs so that they can swim and spend time with friends and family in the water.

There is no chair lift for people who use wheelchairs to get into the pool at the Grinnell Mutual Family Aquatic Center. There is a chair lift into the separate lazy river, but there is currently no access to the pool for people who cannot walk. The main section of the pool has a zero-entry ramp style entrance as well as steps and ladders. A wheelchair can go in the pool via the zero-entry, but someone who uses a wheelchair can't just go in in their own wheelchair, they need to transfer into a waterproof chair that a second person pushes for the swimmer so that they can get in and out of the water.

For example: my dad, Jeff Menary, is unable to stand or walk due to West Nile Virus, and he loves to swim. Swimming is great exercise for my dad, and he enjoys it for his physical health, mental health, overall wellness, and spending time playing with grandchildren in the water. How does he get into the pool? We buy a transport wheelchair each year and use it to push him down the ramp into the water until he is submerged so that he can float off of it and proceed to swim, and then we take out the chair, then bring it into the pool again for him to be able to get out of the pool. But that chair becomes rusty, and he is unable to come to the pool independently, something he would be able to do if there was a pool wheelchair designed for water that was stored at the pool that lifeguards would help people use to get in and out of the pool.

I believe raising money for this will help more people than just my dad. I know there are people in our town and nearby towns who use wheelchairs, I have seen them, but I don't see them at the pool. I know other people who use wheelchairs would like to swim in Grinnell. I want other people who use wheelchairs to be able to swim at the outdoor pool.

After my dad got sick, I paid more attention to people who use wheelchairs, and I would watch to see how they navigated the world. In my opinion, the worst thing to do to someone who uses a wheelchair, is to treat them like they are invisible. Right now, it seems like our fellow community members who use wheelchairs are invisible at the Grinnell Mutual Family Aquatic Center. I have observed only one other person who uses a wheelchair enter the pool via their family member picking them up and carrying them, but I know not many people can enter the pool like that. Maybe I have not seen many people who use wheelchairs at the pool because of the fact that they cannot get into the pool. An available pool wheelchair at the pool paired with lifeguard assistance for entering and exiting would benefit our community. Wouldn't it be great if anyone who cannot walk could enjoy swimming, being in the water, and being included at the pool?

Being in water provides a great way for local and visiting adults and kids to rehabilitate their body and maintain and improve their health. And swimming is fun! Please consider donating to help fund this simple solution. And I hope that you and I will soon see more people in the water, and that wheelchair users will no longer be invisible or excluded from our community at the pool.

I have spoken to the Grinnell Mutual Family Aquatic Center, and they had a suggestion of a pool wheelchair to buy, and that is what I have based the monetary goal on. I let them know that I would work on raising funds for the pool wheelchair. It will belong to the pool and be able to be used by anyone who needs it with the help of the lifeguards.

I realize that the purchase of a pool wheelchair does not solve every person's mobility need, and I realize transferring from chair to chair is difficult, but I am hopeful that this solution will be similar to a chair lift solution, and I would like to work with the pool staff to show them how community members can use a board to slide from their wheelchair to the pool wheelchair if they are able.

I updated the goal from $3,000 to $3,500 that we could also purchase slideboard, seatbelt, and anti-tip bars as well, and possibly upgrade the model of chair to a sturdier one as well if we can reach $4,000. If we exceed costs for all equipment, then any additional raised funds will go to donate to lifeguard training and outreach to people who would use this item and contribute to paying for pool passes for them.