For two decades, the therapy pool at Mickelson Center in San Mateo was a place for Lindsay Raike to find relief from her chronic pain. But its permanent closure during the pandemic forced many patients, including Raike, to go elsewhere for care, which typically involved participating alongside healthy individuals in nonrehabilitative aquatic centers.
“As anyone who has been touched by chronic illness knows, living with pain and disability is fighting an often daily battle against hopelessness,” Raike said. “It means learning to be patient and accepting that the things that ‘normal people’ can do seemingly easily can take us forever.”
She soon started a grassroots effort to reopen the pool, which, over the last several years, gained momentum. She and her peers started the nonprofit Warm Water Wellness, collected signatures and attended council meetings, with the hope that the consistent campaigning would invigorate investment into the dormant pool, operated by Sutter Health.
And the efforts paid off. The renovated pool officially reopened its doors on Tuesday, Aug. 20. San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said during the opening ceremony that the cooperation between city and county officials, community members and Sutter Health — the longtime owner, which includes the center’s additional rehabilitation spaces — was the reason the reopen was possible.
“When people come out, their elected officials lean in and stand up,” Canepa said. “To some people, this is just a pool. This is a warm water pool that saves lives, helps people get better but most importantly, builds community. When you have community, that’s all you need.”
The warm water pool has several uses but is largely frequented by physical therapy patients, who are seeking rehabilitation from chronic pain or injuries and physical disabilities. Sutter Health’s decision to reopen the pool was made about a year ago but it had to undergo numerous renovations to comply with the latest inspection and code requirements. Darian Harris, CEO of Sutter’s Mills-Peninsula in Burlingame and San Mateo, said he is proud to have been a part of the effort.
“We listened to our friends, we listened to our neighbors, we listened to our patients, we listened to our devoted civic leaders … and we heard one very consistent theme,” Harris said. “While there is much that the pandemic has taken that we cannot get back, the Mickelson pool here at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center is, and was, a beacon of hope and healing for many in our community when they needed it most and that was worth advocating for.”
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