LAURIE, Mo. — A steady month-to-month increase in attendance, especially by seniors and those seeking wellness options has boosted the use of the Westlake Aquatic Center this spring.
Heavily used by Camden and Morgan County seniors, the pool is one of the Lake area’s busiest wellness facilities, offering water aerobics, water walking, arthritis classes, and lap swimming, plus regular free swimming time every afternoon of the week.
Even with summer here, the wellness classes are well-attended, notes Pat Wheeler of Sunrise Beach, who teaches arthritis/wellness classes and water aerobics.
More than half the pool’s users are senior citizens from Camden County, even counting children and families who come for open swims. Morgan County seniors make up 30 percent of total attendance.
“These classes are really valuable to people,” says Bobbie Jones, another Westlake teacher. “In the arthritis/wellness class it’s all about range-of-motion and working on joints, large and small. I’ve been teaching these classes for years, and I don’t hurt.”
Jones also gives private swimming classes, and while her students are mostly children, she also teaches adults. “Anybody is welcome who wants to learn to swim,” she says.
The pool sponsors Lake Regional Health Screenings, is used by rehabilitation professionals for water therapy, and for those with disabilities, the pool has installed a specially equipped chair lift.
Pool use increased this year April to May from 1499 swimmers of various kinds to 1678, which is also a year-to-year increase in attendance from May 2014.
