WaterWayBabies has experienced tremendous growth this year! Orders continue to increase each month with a huge upsurge during the spring and summer months as everyone gets ready for pool time. One advantage to the WWB neck ring is that – because it is inflatable – it folds up easy for vacation packing. This is also an advantage as more and more therapists request using the neck ring and parents carry it back and forth b/t home and therapy pool. If you use the neck ring already, but have not shared with your PT or OT, please do! They can help spread the word to other clients.

Spring 2011, WWB attended the annual family conference in Wisconsin for 0-6yrs blind/VI. I gave a presentation to families and staff. And afterward, parents who were interested purchased neck rings and we had a group swim in the hotel pool with about 10 WaterWay babies and kids! They keep a demo pool and neck ring at their on-campus resource center in Janesville so that parents can view it and check it out for trial use before purchase.

Next came the Dupont PT Conference in Wilmington, DE. This is a wonderful pediatric rehab hospital with family-centered care and a huge, fabulous therapy pool. I in-serviced the therapists on WaterWayBabies the day before having a vendor booth at their annual conference. Dupont purchased a ring of each size to both use in their in-patient and outpatient aquatic therapy – and which they also graciously allow and invite parents to try with their child before purchase. I get many referrals from Dupont that come from families living across DE, NJ, and PA.

Unfortunately, due to my own illness, I had to cancel on the FSMA conference, held this year in Orlando. But the staff was kind enough to pass out my brochures. And I’ll be with them in Minneapolis next year for sure! See the Summer Newletter for an article I wrote about WaterWayBabies and your SMA child.

Late summer allowed a trip to southern California where I visited tlc4blind in Reseda, just north of LA. This is an amazing residential facility which also has an extensive outreach for therapeutic intervention with babies and young children who are blind or visually impaired. Aquatic therapy is especially beneficial to these children as they struggle to learn their place in space. The Center has a warm therapy pool and every Weds, they host a social swim for their moms and babies and preschoolers. I got to participate in this group swim and it was a delight! Imagine the enjoyment of swim and water play with other families in similar situations.

I also paid a visit to NAPA Center, a therapy facility located convenient to LAX so that families from all over the world can access them. The place is amazing! I was invited to in-service the staff and we plan future collaborations to combine water therapy with all the other interventions.

Somehow, in the midst of all this travel, I managed to keep up with orders, make a promotional video, begin work on a documentary, get WaterWayBabies trademarked, and re-design the neck ring for my bigger kid clients.

Whew! I love it. And just when I get tired, I get a boost from a parent or grandparent sharing their story of how WaterWayBabies is making a difference in their child’s life. Making my hard work all worth it. 🙂