Traveling Swim School Aims To End Drownings In Florida

By  //  August 17, 2016

SCHOOL OFFERS PROGRAM LICENSE THROUGHOUT STATE


ABOVE VIDEO:   Baby Otter Swim School’s traveling swim school offers swim school licensing in territories throughout the state of Florida.

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — With a clear goal in sight, drowning prevention experts Marlene Bloom and Mindy York are on an ambitious mission to make Florida a zero-drowning state.

To accomplish their goal, York and Bloom are offering their traveling swim school licensing in territories throughout the state. License-holders manage swim instructors with their state and national certification.

To accommodate busy lifestyles of parents, the swim school travels to client’s pools, city pools and even local community pools to teach their life-saving drowning prevention techniques. Baby Otter designed the licensing program with a very low initial startup and minimal overhead. Our mission is to help create jobs and make Florida a Zero drowning state.

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Baby Otter Swim School co-founder Mindy York with MLB Hall of Fame Member Andre Dawson and co-founder Marlene Bloom. Dawson is a national spokesperson for the school.

For the past three decades, York and Bloom have taught their proprietary Turn, Kick, Reach®program to thousands of children across the state, where drowning is the leading non-natural cause of death among children under the age of five. Turn, Kick Reach® systems developed by its founders and proven in Florida over the last 40 years to dramatically decrease the drowning statistics.

Bloom, the founder and creator of the Turn, Kick Reach program knew there was a need for this 40 years ago when no organization would teach children under the age of 3 how to swim. Bloom, an educator knew that lessons plans work in the classroom so they should also work in the pool.

She spent an entire summer designing this life saving program. Now decades later the program has been recognized for its excellence in aquatics receiving its own state and national certification. Baby Otter is a standalone company that does not rely on the Red Cross for certifications as most other swim schools do.

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York has training in business development and is an entrepreneur extraordinaire. Now, she wants to see a new group of leaders save the next generation of swimmers across the Sunshine State. For York, her calling into the career started after a potentially tragic situation

I became involved with the Turn, Kick, Reach technique after my child who at the time was 17 months old was found at the bottom of a pool, York said. “Fortunately, I knew CPR, and was able to revive her. Marlene had been after me for months to sign my daughter up for lessons, and I called her immediately telling her what happened. My daughter was in lessons practically, the next day. After experiencing what the TKR Program could do for my daughter’s safety and my peace of mind, I knew it was my mission to save lives by working with Marlene (the developer of the program) bringing the Turn, Kick, Reach program to the world. I now have two grandchildren who both learned the Turn, Kick, Reach method before they were a year old. They are both very confident swimmers who love being in the water. The peace of mind I have is priceless.”

Assisted by the support of Major League Hall of Fame member and former Chicago Cubs Player Andre Dawson, Bloom and York have taught adults and children across the country. Dawson helps Bloom and York raise awareness about their efforts. His continuous support inspired the Baby Otter Andre Dawson Aquatic Center. Dawson, is not a paid spokesperson and spends much of his time volunteering at events and donating time to the school.

“Throughout my career, I have tried to use my position to help as many people as possible,” Dawson said. “Baby Otter has given me a greater opportunity to help people, children in particular, more than any other charitable effort of which I have been involved.”

For more information on starting a licensed swim school, call 954-704-0080.