ABOUT US

Chair

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I know if our community wants a swimming pool anytime soon, it’s up to the citizens to get it done. As a child, I learned to swim at the Lake County Pool on E. 6th St. There was a mini trampoline for diving into the deep end.

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A lot of people know me as “The Hot Dog Lady”. While working downtown, I talk to people of every age, gender, race, religion, physical ability, and socio-economic status. They want to renovate our existing public aquatic center.

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Pb Swims is a grassroots effort, and our members include a bunch of wild weeds. Like dandelions, we’re not going away. Let’s raise those funds now to renovate, re-open, and responsibly operate our local aquatic center!

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-Jane

Vice Chair

Treasurer

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“Just a few years before the pool closed, I took an adult swim class. It turned my 'staying afloat' into an addictive form of exercise with a feeling of accomplishment and ability.

It was new community of like-minded comrades for me.

I have worked for myself my entire adult life. Most skills were acquired by life’s lessons.

Always an entrepreneur, I have learned & succeeded with skills gained in business, finance & project management.

I have overseen staff as well as building projects, renovations and new builds.

I have been involved in government projects as well as private.

I am now semi-retired with grandchildren to enjoy.

I want to stay in the community but see less and less opportunity for ways to spend my free time yet the cost-of-living increases.

The community that I gave so much to in my business and personal life has been disappointing in its support of the people and lacks giving back to those that built it.

Once I chose not to do some of the more vigorous sports of my youth, I came to rely on the aquatics as a form of exercise and connection to those in the community.

This is why I am committed to the realization of an aquatic center in Lake County. Not just for me, but for every person that chooses to live here; everyone deserves it.”
-Linda

Director

"My name is Melissa and I live in Leadville, Colorado. I was born three months premature, weighing in at 1 pound, 15 ounces. I spent the next three months in the NICU at Rose Hospital in Denver, Colorado. During this time, I was hooked up to several machines. One of those machines was a ventilator. The ventilator assisted me with my breathing as my lungs were not mature enough at the time.

Due to my prematurity, my doctors diagnosed me with Cerebral Palsy. This diagnosis is a brain injury that occurs, before, during, or after birth. There are different levels of severity of Cerebral Palsy, mine is spastic diplegia. Spastic diplegia produces high muscle tone, especially in my legs and hips. Due to this diagnosis, I utilize a wheelchair to get around

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When the pool was open, I did aquatic therapy there a few times a month. My aquatic therapist assisted me in exercises like walking with dumbbells, doing the backstroke, kicking my arms and legs in the water, core-strengthening exercises, and hanging onto the side of the pool while sidestepping.

The best part of swimming in the pool? For the first time in my life, I didn’t have to fight gravity! The water’s buoyancy allowed me to do so many things that are a challenge to me in everyday life. For instance, being in the water didn’t require me to place a death grip on my trainer just to stay upright. Using the pool and the facility’s jacuzzi after swimming helped ease the hypertonia in my legs. Every exercise session boosted my dopamine levels, too. I felt great!

Since the pool’s closure, I haven’t been able to swim or exercise. The nearest pools are between 30 minutes to an hour away. My mother, who provides my transportation, works 10-hour days so I’m unable to get to these facilities. I’m eager for Pb Swims to reach its goal and reopen our local aquatic center as a place where people of all abilities can use the pool with ease and feel like welcome members of the community." -Melissa