Morning AquaciseMorgan County Health Center

Diabetes Support Program

Getting StartedMelissa, our Outreach Coordinator, was the lucky lady who would be leading the water aerobics classes. Melissa was already trained in CPR/first aid, so all she had to do was get her national water aerobics certification and complete lifeguard training.

Doing the homework

For national water aerobics training: http://www.uswfa.com

For CPR training: http://www.americanheart.org

Partnering with the CommunityWe contacted the manager of our city pool and shared with her our plans for water aerobics classes. The park board gave us the approval and gave us an estimate of what it would cost to use the pool the entire summer ($100). Melissa also contacted a local indoor pool that offered water aerobic classes. From them she received the information on how to order the foam noodles used for certain exercises.

Putting it all TogetherSince we were working around the city pool’s schedule, we decided to have the classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-10:30am (before the pool opened), thus we created the name Morning Aquacise. I included a flier about Morning Aquacise in the monthly newsletter I send out to all of our diabetic clients. In addition to the flier, we bought an add in the newspaper inviting the public to attend as well. The cost of the aerobics classes were $2 each or $10 for a “season pass.” We waived the cost for our diabetic clients.

What a Success!On average we had 10 people that joined us for Morning Aquacise each morning. We had a great mixture of people from diabetic clients to school teachers. We heard positive feedback and plan to continue classes next summer.

What We Learned • Outdoor pools and Missouri weather don’t always mix• The diabetic clients who work missed out on this opportunity so evening hours may be better• May need scholarship opportunity to those who have financial need and not in diabetes program

The EndQuestion

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