Friday, October 28, 2022
Warm water therapy changes lives
Courtesy of Zoe Kent-Ferraro, Darby Madden and Saara Hakanen Oliver Riggs, 12, learns plenty of physical skills, colors, letters and sequencing in the warm water therapy lab.
Stillwater’s unique form of recreational therapy Zoe Kent-Ferraro, Saara Hakanen and Darby Madden O’Colly Contributors
A Stillwater Elementary School student shouted two words after she proved others wrong. “I’m walking, I’m walking,” she said, after being told she would never be able to walk again. This girl got more from warm water therapy than anyone could’ve hoped for. Life-changing recollections like this are among the favorite memories of Jonette Passmore, instructor for the warm water therapy lab. Passmore’s job is to teach OSU’s recreational therapy students to work with local elementary and middle school students, so that they could experience similar moments. OSU’s warm water therapy lab is the first of three clinical rotations required for a recreational therapy degree. Each student in the program works with the same patient from Stillwater elementary or middle school throughout the semester. During their time together
in the pool, patients with limiting conditions can gain strength and mobility. Warm water therapy doesn’t add stress to the patients’ bodies since water reduces 90% of their body weight. Although the progress takes time, children who have participated have seen confidence boosted as well as improved muscle strength and flexibility. “The progress you see from September to December isn’t always a lot but I have worked with some kids for four or five years,” Passmore said. “To be able to look back to when they first came, they cried the whole 30 minutes they were in the water, and now they’re independently doing things.” “I think you have to go into it realizing that they can teach you something, not that you’re here to teach them,” Passmore said. Stillwater Medical’s Total Health Fitness Aquatics Center is home to the only warm water therapy program with one-onone attention from student therapists in Oklahoma. Passmore and her student therapists are in high demand. Public schools’ special education programs evaluate which children they think would benefit the most
from warm water therapy. “They usually have more Stillwater public students that want to come than what we can bring, just because of the shared numbers in the water,” Passmore said. To accommodate the limited resources, the pool capacity falls to 20 people in the water at once. That makes it possible to fit 10 Stillwater Public School students and 10 OSU students into one session. Oliver Riggs, 12, is one of the lucky 10 that gets to play and learn in the pool with a familiar OSU student every Thursday. His smile through the 30-minute therapy session is even more overflowing than the pool itself. When this bubbly kid with Down syndrome is asked whether he had fun in the pool, he grins and gives a straight-to-the-point answer: “Yes.” Smiles are common inside Total Health Aquatics. The pool and a large gym are a few of the resources that Total Health offers Stillwater residents. Vanessa Lane, Supervisor of Fitness, sees people from all walks of life come together to workout. “There is one time when a
younger super built man and an older female around the age of 65 were working out together, doing spin classes and weightlifting,” Lane said. “This interaction just shows how much of a family we are at Total Health Aquatics, and we want to lift others up with a smile on our faces.” Fun exercises can also be useful and highly educational. While physically moving around the pool, children learn colors, numbers, letters, sequencing and balance among many other things. Passmore said swimming is used as a task in the pool to stimulate all parts of the brain at once. “That’s what’s great about the water because you can incorporate your left and right brain at the same time with everything you do,” Passmore said. Hard skills such as reading and calculating are essential, but the most important life skills children get to bring home from the pool are soft skills. The first of these kinds of skills is learning natural consequences. “If I tell you that you’re gonna sink if you don’t have your floaties on, and you won’t
listen to me, you jump off the side anyway, you’re gonna go under,” Passmore said. “I’m gonna help you up, of course, but that’s a natural consequence.” Another soft skill with a huge impact on the children’s lives is confidence. Passmore said although it’s sometimes harder for these kids to see success, here, they get realizations of being able to do things independently. Great power comes with great responsibility, however, too much confidence can be dangerous, especially in a deep pool. “My biggest fear with our special needs kids is that we’re gonna give them enough confidence that they think they can do more than they can,” Passmore said. Jayden Fiebiger, a senior at OSU, completed a warm water therapy lab only one semester before getting to utilize the skills in a real-life job. Her supervisor during a summer internship was aquatic therapy certified, so Fiebiger got to dive right into water therapy with the clients. See Therapy on 5A
Halloween weekend events in Stillwater and surrounding areas Jaden Besteda Staff Reporter
animation “Coraline.” There will be a trunk or treating section, photo booth, yard games and drinks Halloween day is nigh. and snacks for everyone to The spooky houses and pumpkin enjoy. There will also be a catered everything have already costume contest that will taken shape across Stillwater. have an Apple Home Mini With Halloween quickly apand a Horse PillowPet as proaching, here are events that possible prizes. The activiyou can attend this weekend to ties will start at 6 p.m. and get your Halloween spirit on the movie will begin at 7. before the big day. Sumner Baptist HalDrive-In Movie (Coraline) loween Festival Friday, the Western Fields On Saturday, the Sumwill be showing the spooky ner Baptist Halloween festival will show any attendees a good time with several snacks, food, and games for people to take part in. There will also be a pumpkin carving contest. Saved for last, a costume contest race broken into age divisions will end the exciting night. The event will go from 5-9 p.m.
Via Dr. Shrum’s Instagram OSU president Dr. Kayse Shrum noted Brooks said “five seconds of courage is all you need” in his talks on Tuesday.
Answered questions
Brooks returns to OSU
Spooktacular Halloween Concert The Greenwood School of Music Preparatory Academy will be putting on a concert. It will include Academy singers, violinists and cello students. The cost is free and will start at 10 a.m. Saturday. See Halloween on 4A
how about that?” Brooks came home to OSU for the day along with his touring team to share wisdom from the music industry, and empower the next generation as they emAbby Cage on their own personal Co-Editor-in-Chief bark journeys through college and beyond. Not only was IndusGarth Brooks said he would be home for Christ- try Insights beneficial for mas, when a student asked music students but veterinary students, those startif he would ever perform ing a family, and more. on campus. “We’ll do something for Christmas this year, See Garth on 5A