Mike Kapuscinski, executive director of the South Meridian Family YMCA, discusses the various pumping and filtration equipment that support Meridian YMCA’s new aquatic facility May 14.
Mike Kapuscinski, executive director of the South Meridian Family YMCA, looks over pumping and filtration equipment at Meridian YMCA's new aquatic facility, Friday, May 14, 2021.
An activity room for neurodiverse guests in Meridian YMCA’s THRIVE center in this May 2021 file photo. Blue Cross Idaho donated $2 million for THRIVE center will be built at the Downtown Boise YMCA.
Mike Kapuscinski, executive director of the South Meridian Family YMCA, discusses the various pumping and filtration equipment that support Meridian YMCA’s new aquatic facility May 14.
MERIDIAN — The long-awaited indoor aquatic center at the South Meridian Family YMCA is nearing completion and will open its doors to the public on July 1. The grand opening will also feature the facility’s THRIVE Center, which provides a safe and inclusive space for the Treasure Valley’s neurodiverse families.
The aquatic center features state-of-the-art equipment designed to improve water quality and energy efficiency and will address a local shortage of space for swim lessons and local swim teams to practice and hold meets, said Mike Kapuscinski, executive director of the South Meridian Family YMCA.
While the aquatic center has been years in the making, the THRIVE Center was developed in 2019 after staff at South Meridian YMCA noticed they were getting a larger number of parents with neurodiverse children looking for services than at any other Treasure Valley Family YMCA location. The project has been a success for both parents and children, Kapuscinski said.
AQUATIC CENTER
The South Meridian YMCA, which shares a campus with Hillsdale Elementary, opened in May 2018, but work on the aquatic center didn’t start until August 2019, as funding allowed. The Y includes a youth development center, fitness areas, a large indoor family play structure, gathering space, gyms and classrooms.
The roughly 20,400-square-foot aquatic center was estimated to cost $14 million. Fundraising began after a $20 million bond proposed by the Western Ada Recreation District in 2016 failed, getting the approval of only 51% of the necessary 66.7% of voters.
Today, the nearly completed aquatic center is a full-sized community recreation facility and competitive swimming venue, according to the South Meridian YMCA’s website.
“There are outdoor pools in Meridian, but as the population grows, we have more and more families and kids,” Kapuscinski said, highlighting that drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death for kids under 15 in the United States. “This aquatic center will be able to provide swim lessons and access to aquatic fitness year round. It’s going to have a pretty significant impact on the community.”
The aquatic center features four separate bodies of water. One of the pools will be a recreational space with lap lanes, space for swim lessons, a lazy river and a climbing wall for family fun.
There’s a kiddie pool with water features which reaches a maximum depth of 2 feet, as well as a water slide which empties into a shallow area so more guests can use it in a safe manner. And for adults finished with exercise, there’s a heated whirlpool to relax in. Outside, families can play on an outdoor splash pad.
A water slide winds its way outside Meridian YMCA’s new aquatic facility, Friday, May 14, 2021.
The 25-yard competition pool is housed underneath a separate air filtration system and features large glass garage doors that can be lifted up or brought down when hosting swim meets, as well as during practice to separate teams from the rest of the facility. Staff can control the pool and air temperature without condensation, providing longevity to the pool facility’s equipment.
The competition pool will provide the Kuna High School and Mountain View High School swim teams a new practice space and allows more space to host meets during the busy high school swim seasons.
According to Kapuscinski, the aquatic center will be one of the only pools in Idaho with a filtration system that actively removes chloramine, the byproduct of chlorine that causes red eyes and itchy skin, from the surface of the water as it flows into the pools’ gutters.
“We want the technologies to provide great air and water quality while also being environmentally friendly and sound,” Kapuscinski said during a tour of the construction site.
Mike Kapuscinski, executive director of the South Meridian Family YMCA, looks over pumping and filtration equipment at Meridian YMCA's new aquatic facility, Friday, May 14, 2021.
The facility uses regenerative media filters that use less water during backwash cycles. In addition to being disinfected using pool chemicals, the water will flow through a UV filter for an extra later of protection as it cycles through the pool’s filtration system.
For swim meets, the competition pool will be outfitted with diving blocks and bleachers. The cables connecting equipment used to time races are embedded into the deck, allowing for the use of touch pads versus timing races manually.
South Meridian YMCA is currently hiring lifeguards, swim instructors and group exercise instructors, Kapuscinski said.
THRIVE Center
The THRIVE Center was developed in 2019 in collaboration with local partners after staff at South Meridian YMCA noticed that they were getting a large number of requests for services from families with neurodiverse members.
As staff began to research, they found that West Ada School District had approximately 4,400 neurodiverse students, roughly 10% of the district’s population.
At the same time, the South Meridian YMCA was moving the existing weight room to the east side of the building in order to make space for the aquatic center’s locker rooms. This left an extra 4,000 square feet, which staff decided to develop into an inclusive area for parents with neurodiverse children.
Staff held neurodiverse nights where kids could play and parents, paraprofessionals and medical professionals discussed needs. “We just kept listening and taking it in,” Kapuscinski said.
In partnership with Blue Cross of Idaho, which donated $1 million, alongside a private donor who matched that amount, South Meridian YMCA then built and developed a THRIVE Center featuring a host of programs for guests in the community including neurodiverse camps, a sensory story time, adaptive adventures, arts and crafts, music therapy, open gym, teen nights, sensory adaptive toys and play rooms, calming cabanas, and even life skills classes.
An activity room for neurodiverse guests in Meridian YMCA’s THRIVE center in this May 2021 file photo. Blue Cross Idaho donated $2 million for THRIVE center will be built at the Downtown Boise YMCA.
The THRIVE Center includes two rooms for neurodiverse kids and adults — one for “high sensory” individuals with appropriate toys and equipment. Another “low sensory” room features quiet, low-light calming cabanas, textural toys, play mats, and swings specialized for kids with high sensitivity.
“It has been an incredible journey,” Kapuscinski said. “We’ve been operating since March 2020 but never had a real grand opening,” he added. “It has been absolutely life changing to watch the kids and these parents grow.”
In providing an appropriate space where people can thrive, YMCA staff has seen vast improvements in the health and wellbeing of not only neurodiverse guests, but families, as well, Kapuscinski said.
He spoke of one mother who dropped her daughter off at camp and later told the staff she had circled the facility for two hours anticipating a call to pick her daughter back up. She later teared up telling staff she hadn’t had a day to herself in nine years.
Employees adapted the facility’s Kid Zone with corner guards after a young boy, who is nonverbal, bit into the drywall. They also purchased toys designed to provide texture and touch response. The boy’s father was in tears; he had expected to be told his son was no longer welcome, Kapuscinski said. “He told us nobody had ever done that for them.”
Another child, a special education student at Hillsdale Elementary, began verbalizing and walking on her own after several months participating in programs while her mother exercised, even kicking a soccer ball for the first time, Kapuscinski said.
He emphasized that everyone is welcome at the Treasure Valley Family YMCA. Staff has been learning alongside neurodiverse families as the THRIVE Center grows, Kapuscinski said.
Nobody will be turned away for inability to pay, and staff adheres to a philosophy which strives to make sure everyone belongs.
“It takes very little effort sometimes to make somebody’s life better,” he said.
