A fresh dip in a river or lake. Certainly in the summer we naturally like to do that … but you always take a risk, because 146 people drowned last year. It is striking that almost half of them were 60 people. You would think that most Dutch people of that generation can swim, but it often goes wrong while it can be prevented.
In the Warande in Oosterhout they therefore organize exercise lessons for the elderly a few times a week. And that is popular. “Often people are forwarded from the physio or the doctor,” Esther van den Bemt from the swimming pool tells NOS. “It really promotes the flexibility and freedom of movement of the people.”
Panic
And that is necessary because drowning is most common among the people of people over 60. Not in a swimming pool, but outside in open water. People get confused by, for example, dementia, sliding out with a sip too much or becoming unwell. They accidentally end up in the water and then do not manage to save themselves.
The athletes in the swimming pool in Oosterhout can imagine that. “People who have ever learned to swim and don’t keep practicing, who can panic,” says a man. A lady says she participates in the lessons because otherwise she will be ‘stiff and stiff’.
According to Van den Bemt, people over 60 also drown because swimming lessons were not mandatory in the past. “People have not obtained any swimming diplomas, learned themselves swimming and due to less mobility they are less able to swim.” At De Warande they try to identify that and point out people.
Cosiness
So a serious matter. Although others are also in the swimming pool because of the cosiness. “The three of us are always together,” says a lady laughing. Then the hands go in the air, Guus Meeuwis sounds loudly through the speakers and a polonaise is used in the swimming pool.
