Moses Lake social spot closing

MOSES LAKE — Seniors moved through the pool as they started their Wednesday water aerobics class at the Dabalos Health and Wellness Center.

“We have people with (multiple sclerosis), cerebral palsy, hip replacement, joint replacement, post-heart surgery and people who just have poor balance and just need the strength (exercising in the pool),” said Sharon Pierce, one of the people who uses the pool. “This keeps them active in the community.”

Pierce, along with about 20 to 25 other people, may have to look for a new place to exercise when the heated pool closes Wednesday.

The pool has been open for about six years and Rudy Dabalos said the cost to operate it became too high. The cost of the gas, which is used to heat the pool, rose by 26 percent two years ago to about $2,000 a month.

Also there was an increase in his property taxes, pool licensing fees and he would have to re-build the drains to meet building codes.

“There’s no profit in it,” he said. “Many of (my colleagues) won’t refer to this location. I thought if I built it they would come, but that’s only true in the field of dreams.”

Howard Daniels, who uses the pool to exercise after having back surgery, said Medicare pays for him and his wife, Darlene, to use the pool, but he thinks people would be willing to pay more to keep it open.

Pierce, Howard Daniels and Darlene Daniels said the pool provides them with time to socialize as well.

“We joke. We get together and go to movies and concerts and all kinds of things,” Pierce said. “We like to be together. Almost everybody there are widowed or divorced or something, so that’s their family.”

Howard Daniels said there isn’t another facility in the area he could use for his back because if the water is too cold the muscles in his back will tighten causing more problems.

“My back muscles go into contractions,” he said. “It’s like having a charley horse. It doesn’t do you any good.”

Darlene Daniels said she isn’t able to use the exercise equipment in the rest of the facility after her knee surgeries, and the nearest other facilities would be in Wenatchee or Spokane.

Pierce, a retired nurse, is worried what will happen to the people who use the pool once it closes, she said.

 “(The users of the pool) will walk less, they’ll move less, have less balance and just be sitting in a chair,” she said. “Because they won’t go out, they won’t know anybody.”