State closes Fircrest Pool

A few signs marked the final day Fircrest Pool was open on March 13 in Shoreline. Typed messages hung on doors and lockers. A message of thanks from the pool staff was painted on the pool windows.

In the water, laps were swum and friends chatted as they floated, kicked or pulled themselves through the 86-degree pool. Others sat or swam around in the 95-degree therapy pool. Many smiled, a few splashed around. Several discussed ways to convince the state to reopen the pool.

“We want to reopen before a year,” Seattle resident Mariette Poirier said. “We want to reopen before three months.”

Closing the pool will save the state approximately $500,000, officials said. Since learning that closing the Fircrest Pool is a part of Gov. Christine Gregoire’s 2009-2011 state budget proposal, Poirier has visited legislators in Olympia several times, passing out letters and pamphlets about the pool and those who used it.

“The pool provides a service to people who are typically under served in our community and for whom the physical and psycho-social health benefits are enormous,” she wrote in a Feb. 28 letter to state representatives.

The pool should be turned into a center where health professionals from throughout the state could learn how to work with and manage severely disabled people, she said before taking her last swim in the pool March 13.

The Fircrest Pool could be deeded to the disabled, Mindie McDonnell of Seattle said as she watched her 19-year-old autistic son swim in the therapy pool.

“I’ve been upset about this for a while,” she said. “We need to build this place up not tear it down. Institutes are great…we need them. Make this sustainable; bring in more people who have these needs.”

The Fircrest Pool has been a “safety net” for her son and many others, McDonnell explained.

“People can come here and they know they’re going to see some disruptive people here and they’re OK with that,” she said.

The pools were kept at higher temperatures than most public pools according to pool staff. The warm temperatures helped Fircrest residents as well as community members with Multiple Sclerosis and arthritis and those recovering from other medical conditions.

The pools’ high temperatures were reasons why Ballard residents Sharon Babcock and Jane Vosk went swimming once or twice a week at Fircrest.

“If the water is too cold it’s actively bad for us because it causes pain,” Vosk said. “If they close (Fircrest Pool), we won’t be able to swim and exercise is crucial to us.”

Occupational therapist Jeanne Shepard and speech therapist Laura Squires each brought clients to the pool and used it themselves regularly. The pool was a good place for clients to “get extra energy out” Shepard said.

“This is a special environment for special people,” she said. “It’s going to be a big loss.”

Whether the pool will reopen is up to the state legislature and difficult to say, recreation manager Bob Colley said.

“There’s been quite a few community patrons who have discussed contacting their state legislators,” he said. “I know there are some people who are very motivated.”