Speak up for therapy pool
I urge Moscowans to contact Gritman Hospital CEO Kara Besst and the Board of Directors to reconsider closing the Martin Wellness Center and Nirk Therapy Pool on Jan. 31.
When the Latah County Commissioners sold the Latah Convalescent Center and physical therapy facility to Gritman for $1 in 2008, we pool users were thrilled. Finally, a professional entity would improve the badly deteriorated interior! And they did, with help from some very generous donors and a group called the Grassroot Grannies. The redone pool facility was a model for what a Wellness Center should be. They added classes, built better locker rooms and space for land exercises.
Unfortunately, subsequent upkeep was neglected. Now Gritman has given users notice that the entire facility will close Jan. 31.
Many things are wrong with this decision starting with such short notice for supporters to try to save the facility. Further, had Gritman been keeping up with necessary repairs, we might not have arrived at this point. This therapy pool serves a large population of Moscowans with disabilities, who are elderly, are recovering from surgeries and who have chronic physical conditions. Where will they go? Not the UI pool, primarily for swimming laps and requires patrons to register for credit and buy a parking permit. Not the Pullman pool, which is slated to close. Not motel pools that worry about liability.
A group of patrons is trying to find a workable answer but only have about two weeks to do so. This seems grossly unfair and ignores the needs of the very people Gritman’s mission statement says they support. If Gritman can purchase 28 sites in downtown Moscow, it seems to us that it can find money to do necessary repairs to the Wellness Center and pool. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
Gleanne Wray
Moscow
Pool is a community treasure
The shock of Gritman’s letter which announced the closing of our Martin Wellness Center, the timing, the manner in which this announcement was made, and the way it has otherwise been handled have upset, even devastated, those who have relied on the facility’s pool as a major wellness element in their lives.
Comprehensive research and creative vision will reveal that no other area facility is set up to make available so many services at one location, water-dependent exercise being a major and irreplaceable component. Those who saved it for us over 20 years ago knew this. And it has been doing it well. Why close such a community treasure?
For over 20 years, it has provided exercise opportunities for recovery and sustained health in a warm-water pool. Testimonies of the pool’s success as a place of self-healing abound: rehabilitation after accidents and surgeries, treatment for unhealthy weight and disease-related impairments, care for age-related conditions. This pool saves us, even when other exercise cannot, from depending on doctor visits, keeps us out of assisted living, enables us to actively serve our community. As insurance companies proclaim, but more importantly, as our health-givers insist, ounces of prevention are worth pounds of cure.
Given its proven benefit to the community, the Jeff and Becky Martin Community Wellness Center must be sustained as a human-cost-efficient operation. Please support our request to Gritman Medical Center to keep the pool running, and let us join together in finding a way to save it for the future.
Georgia Toppe
Moscow
