Pool Staff Recognizes ‘Mermaid of the Month’

“Everybody knows, if I don't answer the phone, I'm probably in the water,” says Kelli Harris-Wright, an avid swimmer at the ProMotion Fitness Center pool at Shepherd Center. 

The 68-year-old comes to the pool three days a week as a community member for a rigorous workout routine: an hour and 20 minutes of stretching, strength training, and cardio in the water. 

“Although I’ve never been a patient at Shepherd Center, I do have a neuromuscular disorder,” says Kelli, who has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. “Finding a pool as special as the ProMotion pool has been just a gift to allow me to continue exercising regularly to maintain the mobility that I have ... the pool has been invaluable.” 

Kelli has been coming to Shepherd Center’s pool for five years now, and this spring, Brigid Sykes, PT, D.P.T., CLT, a physical therapist specializing in aquatics, had an important question for her. 

“I was in the pool doing my exercises, and Brigid was in the pool working with a patient. She swam over and said, ‘We have something to ask you.’ [I thought it would be] ‘Can you please slide over so the patient I’m working with can also use the ballerina bar?’ or ‘Can you please pass me the noodle?’ I didn’t know what it was. And she said, ‘We would like to know if you would consider being our ‘Mermaid of the Month,’ I said, ‘The what?’” Kelli laughs. “I didn’t even know what it was.” 

Brigid explained the new monthly recognition to Kelli — the pool staff was commending pool regulars with a ‘Mermaid of the Month’ award, essentially, hanging up each mermaid or merman’s photo on the pool bulletin board for a month to highlight their dedication. The recognition is like an encapsulation of the things that make Shepherd, Shepherd: it’s community-focused, celebratory, and slightly silly, all while recognizing hard work and dedication. 

“Basically, we select a person who sees the value of the pool and enjoys coming to the pool regularly,” says Sykes. “It started with a community member who comes to the pool all the time and basically just plays around. He reminded me of a mermaid with the way he was swimming around, floating, and just generally enjoying the mermaid life, and thus we named him ‘Mermaid of the Month.’ He was really proud of it, so we thought it would be fun to continue.” 

In July, Ronnie Skipper, a former patient who has a spinal cord injury, earned the title. After sustaining his injury in 2014, he began using the pool during rehabilitation exercises. He returned for a month in 2018 to receive a Baclofen pump and spent more time in the pool during that stay. Eventually, he and his wife, Catina, moved from their home in Florida to McDonough, Georgia, just to be closer to Shepherd. Now, they come to the pool together two times a week. Each time, Ronnie spends some time stretching with help from his wife, before swimming 32 laps. 

“After I do that, I’m just relaxed,” Ronnie says. “I can tell my muscles are free. It’s like all my pain went away.” 

Ronnie and Catina have especially enjoyed getting to know the therapists and lifeguards who work at the pool, who they credit with teaching them best practices and new workout ideas. 

“They are so amazing, and they know what they’re doing,” says Catina. “They showed me how to support him in the pool, they showed us different [equipment] we can use — like the foam dumbbells ... Ronnie uses the Hoyer [lift] to get into the pool, but before that he was being transferred over, and they’re very, very careful and helpful moving people. So that’s greatly appreciated because it’s so easy to injure your skin if you’re not properly cared for ... I’m a registered nurse, so I look at things like that, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, these people are so amazing.’” 

Kelli has had similar experiences — she says she’s learned a lot from different physical therapists both at Shepherd and elsewhere. 

“I have been in so much physical therapy all my life, since age 26,” Kelli says. “I took a little bit from here and a little bit from there. Each physical therapist, I would say, ‘I work out in the pool, show me how to do straight leg raises. Help me improve my squats. How do I do tricep work?’ I would ask because each one would show me something different.” 

Kelli and Ronnie also both appreciate aspects of ProMotion beyond the pool itself. For one, they both emphasize how affordable the membership is for the quality of facilities and services provided. 

“I think it’s the best deal in town,” Kelli says. “The gym is just stunning, as well as the pool. If I did want to go upstairs to the gym, I know with Lisa [Eagen, BS, ACSM-CPT, the lead exercise physiologist for ProMotion] and her team, there’ll be a ton of people to help me.” 

Ronnie also appreciates the accessibility of not only the pool itself, but the other spaces in the pool area. 

“The nice thing about the pool is the atmosphere when you roll in there,” he says. “It’s huge and has everything you need there to work. We go in, get our stuff set up, there’s a nice place for us to set up a mat and get a shower, everything.” 

Sykes says the added accessibility of Shepherd Center itself, coupled with access to equipment like the Hoyer lift or shower chairs, sets the ProMotion pool apart from other pools in the area. The combination of accessibility, staff expertise, and a warm atmosphere make the pool a destination for disabled and non-disabled swimmers alike, Kelli says. 

“It is worth the drive if people are somewhere in the metro Atlanta region, if they need that level of support and kindness and care to ensure they are moving and staying as active as possible,” Kelli says."But for non-disabled community members, I think it’s a secret. I think they see the sign, Shepherd Center, a catastrophic hospital, and they assume, ‘Oh I can’t go there.’ But that [can’t be] farther from the truth. You can go there and you will find a wonderful experience.” 

Sykes encourages community members interested in using the pool to join the ProMotion Fitness Center and then set up an appointment for a pool check-off. And for those who feel uncertain about using the pool, she encourages them to reach out for a consultation where she can help them assess their abilities before they commit to a membership. 

To enroll at ProMotion Fitness today, visit Shepherd Center’s website. Who knows, you may be the next Mermaid of the Month! 

Written by Erin Kenney