HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 3587
City of Palo Alto (ID # 3587)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Special Orders of the Day Meeting Date: 3/4/2013
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: Abilitites United for a Public/Private Community Partnership
Presentation
Title: Abilities United for a Public/Private Community Partnership
Presentation
From: City Manager
Lead Department: Community Services
Betty Wright (1909-2004) had a vision. And in 1954 that vision came to fruition in the
Barron Park neighborhood of Palo Alto. Betty wanted to create a community, a place
where people across generations and abilities would come together to learn from one
another. The vehicle was learning how to be water-safe, with the goal of leveraging the
healing powers of water to build such community. Water – Betty prophesized – is the
greatest equalizer. Betty’s vision spread quickly through the neighborhood and with
major changes in developmental disability care and community integration her timing
could not have been more fitting. Children and teens who just a few years earlier were
locked away in institutions, now were returning to their families’ homes and were
accommodated in regular schools with support from social services. It was 1965, and
Betty had outgrown Barron Park. Now set up as the “Weddi Handiswimmers”, nearly
300 community volunteers were the organizing unit behind the coming success. The
Redwood City YMCA contracted with the Weddi Handiswimmers to run the Y pool
program. For the next three years the program kept going, while the focus evolved
toward building a new facility in Palo Alto, which would meet an even larger vision:
aquatic therapy to benefit people with any neurodegenerative condition. In 1968, the
Betty Wright Aquatic Center opened to the public. An indoor, one-story Eichler
construction, the pool offered many ADA features new at the time, including walking
protection for the blind, access ramps for those in wheelchairs, radiant heated floors
across the facility and sound baffles throughout – to create a calm sensory-integrated
environment for anyone on the Autism spectrum. A federal block grant was secured for
the amount of $71,000, equivalent to $429,000 in today’s currency, to support program
evaluation and impact of aquatic therapy. Programming ranged from morning and mid-
day services for adults with arthritic, orthopedic, and neurological conditions, to swim
lessons for children with mental retardation and cerebral palsy, throughout the day. The
program was operated until the early 1980s primarily through volunteer labor.
City of Palo Alto Page 2
With Betty’s retirement in the 1980s, the era of volunteer-driven operations gradually
came to an end. Slowly, the program shifted to being run by hired workers, and
eventually the operational costs became unsustainable. The facility was also aging and
the 1989 earthquake forced the pool shell apart from the foundation, requiring major
repairs to be performed. Nonetheless, local support stood strong for the community-
based organization, which now provided physical therapy, fitness classes, self-directed
exercises for adults, open–pool time for families and the swim lesson programs for
children with developmental disabilities. The latter programs were now paid through
third-party billing with California’s regional centers, under mandate by the Lanterman
Act in California.
As state resources dwindled, and the administrative requirements for third-party
contracting grew ever more complex, the flagship developmental disability swim lesson
program became a cost-prohibitive proposition: only one third of its costs were
supported by regional center reimbursement. Donors’ priorities shifted to infrastructure
improvements and staff development funds. The program was at the brink of closure in
2006, losing more than $350,000 in direct operating costs annually, while serving some
of the region’s most disabled and debilitating community members alongside men and
women with hidden yet debilitating disabilities, such as fibromyalgia, low-back pain, and
osteoarthritis.
A new vision and action-based leadership have fueled a new wave of investments. The
community has invested in capital improvements, leadership development, and staff
competencies, which have enhanced function and form of the aging center. Today the
center, operated at capacity, offers continuum-of-care chronic disease management for
a wide range of conditions. Tailored services include aquatic physical therapy and
hydrotherapy, often based on physicians’ referrals, and rehabilitation, fitness, and self-
directed classes conducted also with the support of program volunteers. Children enjoy
health promotion courses starting from parent-tot water safety classes and growing into
learn-to–swim programs, in inclusive integrated settings. Volunteers undergo training in
our rich history, American Red Cross water safety training, and in-water handling.
Considered a regional leader in the Western United States, and serving as a blueprint
model for community health & wellness, the Betty Wright Swim Center operates today
under a three-year strategic plan “Local therapy center today: National aquatic health
and wellness leaders in 2014.”