For a few more days, people can use the swimming pools of the Trans in Nooitgedacht and Emmen, then the doors close. At least for the time being, because a group of opponents of the closure is working hard to open the swimming pool in Nooitgedacht afterwards.
“You can swim in many places, but what makes this bath unique is that it is made for clients,” says Rory Bob de Haan. As a swimming teacher, he picked up the glove with others and started an action. “All facilities around it is what this bath distinction is made of the majority of the swimming pools.”
The Trans closes the Baden for financial reasons. The care institution has been running millions of losses for several years in a row. “In order to continue to provide good care of our clients in the future, we are forced to make difficult choices,” writes the care institution. In consultation with the client council and the works council, it was decided to close the swimming pools.
But that decision has a major consequences. For example, according to the initiators, about 130 clients of the Trans, 10 residents of the neighborhood and 150 children with swimming lessons are now without a swimming pool. Two other organizations that used the bath until recently made their activities with their activities.
One of the weekly users is Jannie Siepel. “Jannie cannot walk and is in a wheelchair all day,” says her supervisor Jan Hoogeveen. “She can’t move her legs and lower back.”
Swimming is sometimes the only movement that Siepel gets. Because the water removes the pressure on her muscles, she relaxes. “If you see what the added value of swimming is and how she is kicking her legs, then as a result she will get relaxation in the muscles. You will see that weekly. If you skip a few weeks, then notice You just that muscles are more stuck. “
Special hoists hang in the transm bath, so that the jannie supervisors can get in the water. There are also special facilities, such as a changing cushion and a wheelchair for the road from and to the bath. “If you have a normal swimming pool, then it is wheelchair friendly,” says Hoogeveen, “but then you don’t have the lifting agents anywhere.”
For Siepel, keeping the swimming pool open is therefore a ‘must’, says Hoogeveen. “There are still a few places where this is possible, but they are occupied. On 1 February the swimming pool will close here, and then Jannie will keep swimming. Then you hope that there will not be other consequences of the back road there.”
De Haan sees a possibility to keep the swimming pool open for his swimming lessons and for others. But money is needed for that. He is in conversation with various parties to see how they can exploit the bath.
“We need a piece of financing, but also a piece of expertise from other parties,” De Haan explains. “We are mainly looking for a one -off investment in the form of a heat pump and a boiler that needs to be replaced. In total we need around 50,000 euros to keep the swimming pool open over the next five years.”
With various promotions, such as crowdfunding, the initiators try to get that money. “We also hope to be able to go to the municipality of Aa and Hunze and hope that they also want to help.”