“The Foundation’s mission is two-fold; 1) To build a state-of-the-art theater within the community for use by students and the performing arts community of Ojai, and 2) To create a Performing Arts Theater Academy for the youth of Ojai, providing an excellent arts and academic education, and job skill training for the entertainment industry in Los Angeles.
Our vision of Ojai is for a transforming and unifying cultural center, encompassing and strengthening the entire community and providing future generations not only with new hopes and dreams, but the means to turn them into reality.” The Easter Seals Tri-Counties Aquatic programs has been helping both children & adults for over 30+ years. The rehabilitation/fitness pool is sixty feet long and is kept at 94 degrees and is open Mon, Wed & Fri. The entire pool facility is indoors and there are separate showers,lockers/changing areas, & bathrooms for men & women. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, kind, caring & fun! This is a place that offers something for everyone! For children/adults there are "Swimming Lessons" with great swim instructors that work hard to end any water fears, teach water safety and proper swimming techniques.There are classes to promote a "Healthy Back", "Stretch Arthritis", stretching in 94 degree water REALLY helps arthritis! "Different Strokes" a class to help regain mobility after a stroke, "Splash & Fit" a beginning fitness class, "Aqua motion" which is water aerobics twice per day with one of the two high paced aqua motion/water aerobic classes being offered at 6pm as well as good old fashioned lap swim twice per day for one hour. There are wonderful highly trained physical therapists who work one on one with people who have ALL types of injuries and disabilities. The facility is equipped with a hydraulic lift chair & ramp to lower wheelchair users into the pool. Many people come in wheelchairs and end up walking out!
EASTER SEALS TRI-COUNTIES AQUATIC CENTER
Hi I am Debbie Horton. I am 53. I was told about this pool by a friend from the church I attend. I have always been a weight bearing person. I now have been coming to the Easter Seals pool for 4 years. At the time I began coming I weighed approx. 280lbs, I am 5 21/2 tall. I am a disabled person with fibromyalgia, chronic arthritis, as well as other ailments. Warm water really helps the pain associated with both above mentioned conditions for me. I was too uncomfortable with my weight and health to join a regular gym. After REALLY scoping out the facilities, people in the water & workers I noticed right away this was an all for one one for all environment in which all are truly encouraged to succeed with what ever their objectives are. I began attending the 12pm water aerobic class, (Aqua Motion) every Mon., Wed, & Fri. I found the heavier one is on land the lighter in water. In this water I was able to DO everything & basically pain free! I could not even go walking as I was carrying 170 extra lbs. In 1 years this program removed 170lbs from my body. On a good day I now weigh 115 & a bad day about 120lbs! This pool environment is for ALL who do not believe there is anywhere where they can go and feel equal, encouraged, respected, & cared about as an individual. Now I practically live at the pool exercising in 94 degree water about 12 hours per week which keeps me in shape, has greatly lessened my need for pharmaceutical drugs, not to mention all the wonderful people I have met and continue to meet. There are no words to express my sincere love, appreciation, and gratitude to all.
My name is D’Anita-Kay Banning-Gamlyn. I am in my 60’s. This wonderful Easter Seals Pool played a major part in the rehabilitation of two people desperately in need of help. I was introduced to the pool because of my adopted, mentally and physically, disabled one-year old son in the early 70”s. They taught him how to swim and he benefited greatly from the pool therapy.
I attend all classes in the pool. Since I live in Simi, I come only once a week but stay from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm. The pool is very unique. It is kept at 94 degrees and is large enough to swim laps. I was not able to attend the classes while I was working but as soon as I retired I returned to the wonderful pool. At that time I was suffering from three illnesses, Rheumatoid Arthritis (the crippling type), Spinal Stenosis (lower back degeneration), and torn shoulder tendons. I was in constant pain, had inflamed joints, could walk only three minutes before the pain in my hip forced me to rest a few minutes before going on and could not raise both my arms due to extreme shoulder pain. The magical, healing qualities of both the warm pool and knowledgeable instructors, have transformed me into an almost “NORMAL” person! I am ecstatic and thrilled that I have a second chance at life!
I probably have been coming from 1973-1985 and 2004-2008 because it makes me pain free and feel wonderful in so many ways. I continue to attend because it is truly life to me. I have been able to decrease my medications – in fact I am in remission from the rheumatoid arthritis. I have developed strength which enables me to do housework, etc., without always asking for help. I notice my mental attitude has also improved. My true passion is ballroom dancing. Since I have been coming to the pool, I am able to dance gracefully without stopping every few minutes for a rest. I am a totally different person since I returned to the pool!
I prefer the Easter Seals pool because it is unique. The warm 94 degree water, (warm water has a healing effect on my joints and does not stress my joints as I literally jump up and down), the large olympic size of the pool, knowledgeable instructors, and the friendly sympathetic friends to share trials and tribulations with! Gavin Hi, I came to Easter Seals pool two years ago for the arthritis in my knees. The water aerobics helps me stretch joints and keep my arthritic knees pain free. Avoiding pain while exercising and avoiding pain medicine if very important to me. The instructors and clients at Easter Seals’ Pool are friendly and the atmosphere is comfortable and unpressured. People are encouraged to exercise according to ability level. No one discriminates against anyone who can’t do all the exercises or can’t do them completely. Easter Seals Pool and Aquatics program supports all types of physical limitations and needs. I began going to Easter Seals Pool in April of 2006, a few weeks after I was diagnosed with Rhematoid Arthritis. I had had to leave work and go on permanent disability a few weeks before because my joints were so swollen, stiff, and painful it was difficult for me to walk and move. I couldn’t lift anything but the lightest teacup and needed help feeding myself, moving in bed, and dressing myself. Luckily a friend told me about Easter Seals Pool a few days before I had to quit work. Though I had lived in the Oxnard/Ventura area for fifteen years I’d never heard of it before. Easter Seals’ Pool helped save my life just as it has helped many others leave their walkers behind, avoid operations, and recover from operations and get back to work. It welcomes and cares for the disabled, elderly, and even the nondisabled who are trying to stay healthy. It is a unique and underadvertised, and undervalued resource of the city of Ventura that also attracts clients from Oxnard, Camarillo, Santa Paula, Filmore, Simi Valley, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks. There is no equivalent pool to Easter Seals’ in all Ventura County. Most pools discriminate against the tall people by limited depth, the disabled by no ramp access, the light sensitive, and the people who need water near body temperature to heal swollen joints. The other pools are too shallow for men or tall women who have pain issues that go up to their neck. Most are too cold or have poor access for the disabled. All the latest medical research indicates and supports the evidence that warm water exercise is invaluable to healing and treating joints but there is a critical shortage of pools to fill this need for hundreds of miles in all directions. The disabled, injured, and elderly deserve not to be discriminated against by our society. They deserve an opportunity to exercise and heal. Please support and protect healthy quality of life in Ventura and help Easter Seals’ Pool carry on a more than forty-year old tradition of providing an opportunity for exercise and healing to Ventura County’s disabled children and adults and elderly. Give generously. And if you know people who are in pain, remember where to send them for relief: IF YOU HAVE PAIN, TRY EASTER SEALS’ POOL! Join with us and support one of Ventura County’s commitments to quality of life and health for all the people in this great area. Join with us and support Easter Seals’ Pool Aquatics Program. I began coming to Easter Seals Pool and Aquatics program a year ago for ongoing shoulder pain and knee pain. My shoulder pain is under control now, my knees aren’t bothering me anymore, and it has helped me control my weight problem and look better in clothes. I am very shy and it has given me a friendly place to meet people and get exercise. Most pools are too shallow and are outdoors which is a problem for my light sensitivity. Easter Seals’ Pool is a place for people with disabilities, both tall and short, to exercise and get healthy. My name is Julie Perez. I’m 50 yrs old, and have had a neurological disorder since I was five. My mother brought me to the Easter Seals pool when I was a child for physical therapy. Four decades later….. I began coming to Easter Seals Pool and Aquatics program a year ago for ongoing shoulder pain and knee pain. My shoulder pain is under control now, my knees aren’t bothering me anymore, and it has helped me control my weight problem and look better in clothes. I am very shy and it has given me a friendly place to meet people and get exercise. Most pools are too shallow and are outdoors which is a problem for my light sensitivity. Easter Seals’ Pool is a place for people with disabilities, both tall and short, to exercise and get healthy. hello to all,
I wanted tell you a little bit about myself. I am a 31-year-old malethat suffers from multiple sclerosis and lyme disease I have beencoming to the Easter Seals pool for about a year now. The warm wateris a great way to relax my muscles and exercise without having tofight gravity so much. Being in a wheelchair is very difficultMentally and physically but once I get in the pool I feel a greatsense of relief being able to stand and move freely. The staff atEaster Seals are very helpful and very kind. The pool is a great placefor me to do physical therapy. While it is only open three days aweek, I feel like it would be beneficial for me to go there more. Itravel from Ojai because there is no where I would rather go to doaquatic therapy. I attribute the little strength that I have to beingable to exercise in the pool. I am so thankful for places like theEaster Seals pool. Thank you,
I am Nancy Raymond and 70 years old. I was told about the Easter Seals Pool by my family doctor. I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis and he recommended I exercise in the pool since my walking was limited. Since I was a Swimmer in high school, I was eager to join, but found that you don’t have to know how to swim, the pool is shallow at two ends and only five feet deep in the middle. I have been coming to the Easter Seals Pool, off and on for eight years. After joining the general exercise class and doing the exercises I noticed an improvement in my stamina and fewer aches, not to mention the 20 lbs I have lost and have kept it off. I also noticed that if I neglected to go on a regular basis, the stamina would lessen and the aches would return. The warm water is very therapeutic, not only for my physical problem, but for relieving stress. The members and leaders in my general exercise class were wonderful, always asking how I was doing, sharing news, problems, and joking with one another about something. It uplifted my spirits.
Last year I found I had torn my rotator cuff. Since it was a small tare, I decided not to have surgery, and I began a few weeks of physical therapy. The physical therapists were very knowledgeable, kind, and good natured. They were very helpful in showing me exercises I needed to do for my shoulder to increase the strength in my arm.
I am now an independent member and not part of the wonderful classes they offer, but I continue to do the exercises twice a week that I learned in the class years ago. It seems I move much better in the water than on land. I am a cancer survivor and wish I had known of the Easter Seals Pool a couple of years earlier for my recovery. I believe my recovery would have been a lot easier. Thank you Easter Seals Pool staff for your expertise, kindness, patience, and understanding.Dave Davis, age 58, weight, 160 lbs
Cary Davis, age 54, height 5’9”, 150 pounds
The pool was my only pain relief and my only exercise I could do. When I came home I had to go straight back to bed. I was unable to tolerate the drying effects of any of the pain medicine that I was prescribed because I had Sjogren’s Syndrome along with the Rheumatoid Arthritis in all my joints. Sjogren’s Syndrome dries out and damages all the glands that make moisture in the body just as Rheumatoid Arthritis destroys joints. I am also sensitive to sunscreen and light. The indoor, 5 foot deep, 94 degree heated pool was what saved me. I went six days a week: Monday through Saturday. On Monday through Thursday I generally went twice so I could attend both aerobic classes at noon and at 6 p.m.. To heal completely, I had to be up to my neck to help all the joints involved and I floated most of the time for a long time because the pain and swelling in my feet and back was so intense and my wrists knees and ankles were so swollen. The pool gave me quality of life and friendly people to talk to when I had none. The aerobics instructors taught me exercises that stretched by contracting joints and mitigated the pain. I later took physical therapy at the pool and was finally able to get rid of my back pain and walk with fully extended legs again instead of contracted and bent like a chimpanzee.
I walk and look so normal know people don’t always know I’m even disabled. I am generally completely painfree and have lost forty-five pounds. Though I have not regained all of my original strength and flexibility I am able to maintain what I have left and my back is very healthy and flexible. Alex Davis, age 28, height 6’4”, weight 320 1lbs
Dave Davis, age 58, weight, 160 lbs
I came to Easter Seals pool two years ago for the arthritis in my knees. The water aerobics helps me stretch joints and keep my arthritic knees pain free. Avoiding pain while exercising and avoiding pain medicine if very important to me. The instructors and clients at Easter Seals’ Pool are friendly and the atmosphere is comfortable and unpressured. People are encouraged to exercise according to ability level. No one discriminates against anyone who can’t do all the exercises or can’t do them completely. Easter Seals Pool and Aquatics program supports all types of physical limitations and needs.I was told about the Easter Seals Pool by a friend that had been going there for several years, due to medical problems. I did not know that the public was welcome and that you did not have to have a medical condition to use their services.
I began going to the water aerobics classes to tone and strengthen my body. Working at Youth authority as a counselor, I needed to stay strong and agile.I soon learned that there were therapeutic gains for me as well. The warm water helped the arthritis in my hands and allowed me to move more freely. overall.At this point, I have been utilizing this public service for almost four years, and I continue to do so because I feel better. My doctor advised me to continue the exercise program because I was starting to develop some bone loss and my arthritis will only get worse as I grow older. The water is usually kept at a very warm level and it feels great to get into it when I have been very active with my dogs or working around my home and yard.
The social aspect is also a benefit. I have met and made several new friends, whom I enjoy continued friendship with at and away from the pool.
Respectfully submitted,Janie KnappenbergerRetired Youth CounselorAlex Davis, age 28, height 6’4”, weight 320 1lbs
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