Renovation of Accessible Community Pool

completed

• Safehaven offers a swimming program for children and young adults with complex care needs at our pool located in North York. The program offers benefits such as increased range of motion, social contact and new skills. • The objective of our renovation is to provide more individuals with complex care needs with access to swimming and its benefits. The renovation will also improve the quality of our swim program and allow participants to become active for an additional four months per year. Safehaven’s swimming program is currently offered in an outdoor pool that is not fully adequate for individuals with complex care needs and available for a limited time during the year due to weather restrictions. Safehaven’s renovation project will include the construction of an accessibility ramp in the pool, making the entire pool shallow for safety purposes, building an accessible changing station and the construction a pool enclosure in order to extend the months the pool can be used. Accessible swimming pools and programs are limited and/or expensive in the Greater Toronto Area. Our pool renovation will have a long-term impact in the health and emotional well-being of 220 children and young adults with complex care needs. While our pool is located in North York, the project will serve the GTA as our beneficiaries come from different neighbourhoods. This project will support various cultural groups as the primary languages of our clients are Arabic, Chinese and mandarin.