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STOMP to Make Sutter Health Reopen Therapy Pool--Rally
S.T.O.M.P. stands for Save The/Our Mickelson Pool. About 100 activists, many former pool users, gathered in front of the entrance to the Mickelson Therapy Pool in San Mateo on July 24. They demanded that Sutter Health reopen the facility that it shut down in March 2020.
Photos by Dan Ryan, ProBonoPhoto.org
Please credit the photographer
The $4 million Mickelson Center was originally financed entirely by community donations—including $1.5 million from the late philanthropist Mack E. Mickelson. Pool supporters also say that they know, because they are cemented into the south wall of the therapy pool facility, that over 200 private donations were given in exchange for names imprinted into the pool wall's tiles.
With a doctor's prescription community members were welcomed for a monthly fee to use the warm water therapy pool in Mickelson Center...for decades. That all ended with the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Sutter Health, with designs to razing the rehabilitation pool and building a greater revenue generating facility in its place, used the pandemic as a reason to close the pool.
Research shows that warm water therapy is vital to improvement in recovery from surgery, and treatment of arthritis and multiple other medical conditions. The Mickelson Therapy Pool was ADA compliant, one of few in the Bay Area, and the ONLY such center on the San Francisco Peninsula. It also served children with special needs.
On July 24, San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa hosted a rally attended by about 100 people, emceed by the Raging Grannies, and featuring speakers including former pool users and other supporters. The San Mateo County Central Labor Council, Sequoia Healthcare District Board of Directors and the Peninsula Health Care District Board of Directors are amongst the many organizations advocating for a reopening of the pool. Many speakers, including Dr. Susan Stevens, gave testimony as to how crucial the therapy pool is.
Incredibly, Sutter has refused to consider an offer by the Peninsula Health Care District to pay all costs to repair, reopen, and manage the pool at least until a suitable replacement facility becomes available. Advocates say that if Sutter continues to refuse offers of support to reopen the pool, they should be required to reimburse the public donations that funded it in today’s dollars so that a new facility could be developed.
City of Millbrae Vice-mayor Gina Papan said, "It's time to get the California Attorney General involved," to cheers from the crowd.
Please credit the photographer
The $4 million Mickelson Center was originally financed entirely by community donations—including $1.5 million from the late philanthropist Mack E. Mickelson. Pool supporters also say that they know, because they are cemented into the south wall of the therapy pool facility, that over 200 private donations were given in exchange for names imprinted into the pool wall's tiles.
With a doctor's prescription community members were welcomed for a monthly fee to use the warm water therapy pool in Mickelson Center...for decades. That all ended with the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Sutter Health, with designs to razing the rehabilitation pool and building a greater revenue generating facility in its place, used the pandemic as a reason to close the pool.
Research shows that warm water therapy is vital to improvement in recovery from surgery, and treatment of arthritis and multiple other medical conditions. The Mickelson Therapy Pool was ADA compliant, one of few in the Bay Area, and the ONLY such center on the San Francisco Peninsula. It also served children with special needs.
On July 24, San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa hosted a rally attended by about 100 people, emceed by the Raging Grannies, and featuring speakers including former pool users and other supporters. The San Mateo County Central Labor Council, Sequoia Healthcare District Board of Directors and the Peninsula Health Care District Board of Directors are amongst the many organizations advocating for a reopening of the pool. Many speakers, including Dr. Susan Stevens, gave testimony as to how crucial the therapy pool is.
Incredibly, Sutter has refused to consider an offer by the Peninsula Health Care District to pay all costs to repair, reopen, and manage the pool at least until a suitable replacement facility becomes available. Advocates say that if Sutter continues to refuse offers of support to reopen the pool, they should be required to reimburse the public donations that funded it in today’s dollars so that a new facility could be developed.
City of Millbrae Vice-mayor Gina Papan said, "It's time to get the California Attorney General involved," to cheers from the crowd.
For more information:
http://www.warmwaterwellness.org
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