By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
More than a dozen participants in the city’s water aerobics exercise program attended the most recent city council meeting and asked council not to cut funding for the program in next year’s budget.
Three water aerobics participants, Anne Garcia, Maria Gonzalez and Marilyn Dugan, as well as fitness instructor Stephanie Gonzalez, spoke to the council during a public hearing on the city’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget on Aug. 26.
After opening the public hearing on the budget, Mayor Al Arreola first recognized Garcia.
Garcia told the council she is “72 years young and a senior citizen.”
Garcia said, “How many programs does the city have for the mental and physical health of our seniors? It’s a proven fact that as we age, we need to keep moving. Being stagnant affects our minds and our bodies. Socializing with like people keeps us sharper and engaging in regular exercise activities keeps us mobile and increases our ability to improve our balance, which keeps us from falling.
“Many people our age can’t afford gym memberships and having water aerobics available is better for our joints, due to the low impact on our joints. Water aerobics helps those with arthritis, osteoporosis, knee surgery, shoulders and arm injuries. My personal orthopedic doctor recommends water aerobics for my osteoporosis that’s in my lower back and hips and for the rehabilitation of my recent knee surgery.
“This water aerobics program is very important for our senior citizens in the community. These are our taxpayers’ dollars that are being used for the program, and we don’t want to see it cut. We would like to see increases. Please reconsider not taking funds [sic] from this program, either from the water aerobics or the regular aerobics, that is down at the Joe Ramos Center,” Garcia finished. Arreola next recognized Maria Gonzalez.
Gonzalez told the council, “I want to thank each and every one of our council members and mayor for your service to our community. It’s a challenging job, but one that you’re willing to undertake, and, again, I thank you.
“I thank you especially for the programs for our seniors. Fourteen percent of the members in our community are seniors, and we don’t ask for a lot. This is the first time I come advocating for seniors. I am also 72 years old, and I started aerobics two years ago, and Stephanie has done a phenomenal job.
“The reason I started aerobics is due to the results I received from my medical tests. The doctor said, ‘You’re not going on a good path. You need to start some type of program to help you improve all your blood test results so that we can look at a better future for you.’
As I filled out my application while in the doctor’s office, that asks about your medical history, I started thinking about my parents.
“My father had Alzheimer’s. My mother, Parkinson’s. Both neurological disorders. The more research I did, especially on Alzheimer’s, I realized there is no magical drug. There are two drugs that are widely used, not proven to be effective for everyone.
“But one thing that has proven to be effective in, number one, good nutrition; number two, exercise; number three, reducing stress levels; number four, good sleep, a good seven hours of sleep.
“When you look at the exercise programs, especially water aerobics and even regular aerobics, they hit three of (those four). You get good sleep, you get to socialize, and you get to move. So I ask, and I plead – and I thank you, because I know you funded our program this year – but I want you to think about, if possible, adding a little more to our program. We’re not asking for a lot, but it will help all the seniors.
“We don’t want to see our loved stricken by illnesses that could have been prevented by doing a little bit extra,” Gonzalez finished.
Arreola then called on Dugan, first telling the audience that her late husband, Pat Dugan, had been a close friend of his.
Dugan first spoke about her late husband, telling the council and audience he “was larger than life.”
She said, “He was my whole world. He was everything, and when he died last summer, I didn’t want to live anymore. Literally, I did not want to live. I laid on the couch for two months. I didn’t eat, sleep or shower, and finally, my neighbor across the street, Marissa Sanchez, she came over and said, ‘We’re going to water aerobics today.’
“I went to water aerobics, and I was hooked. I was hooked. I didn’t miss a time. That was the only thing that kept me going, for months, and I went to the other, the Joe Ramos aerobics, and I still don’t miss. That is the most important thing in my day right now, and I’m just asking you; that saved my life.
“Now, it may not matter to anybody else, but there may be other people who feel the same way I do. It gives us socialization skills. We look out for each other. There is no judgment. We like each other. If somebody’s not there a couple of times, we check. . .
Maya Angelou has a quote that I really, really like: ‘People will forget what you did and they will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.’
“So I thank you for letting us talk, and I appreciate the fact that you’re giving us that opportunity because we want to feel like we matter. We’re senior citizens – I don’t call myself that, but call us what you want to. I miss my husband every single day, but I don’t think he was ready for me to go with him,” Dugan finished.
Arreola last recognized Stephanie Gonzalez, who introduced herself as the fitness instructor for the city, said she teaches the fitness class at the Joe Ramos Center as well as the water aerobics class.
Gonzalez told the council, “Many of you may not see the importance of this class, but, as you can see, we became more than just (a) fitness (class), we became a family. We support each other from thick through thin, from family lost, through COVID, through whatever, we are here for each other.”
Gonzalez said the city fitness classes are one of the few programs offered for the community’s seniors.
She said, “These are not seniors. They are active agers. These are not seniors. They know how to get up and move daily. They know what they need to do to survive every single day, to be independent and not to be dependent on somebody to get out of their car, to get into bed, to get into and out of the shower. My job is to get them healthy, to make sure they live longer, and that’s why I’m asking, please do not cut the funding for my seniors.
We work together, and I need you guys’ approval in order for us to make that happen.
“If you cut it, there is nothing for us. There is nothing. There are no other pools. There is nothing for us to do. What are we supposed to do? Walk outside? Yes, but it’s hot, and there are some of my ladies that are unable to go to other classes because they have injuries, and the pool saves them (from) that,” Gonzalez said.
She challenged the council members to join a class, noting she has between 30 to 50 persons who regularly participate in her classes.
“If you take that away, there is nothing else that they have, so please do not cut the funding. . . Come see what we do, and I guarantee you your heart will open up,” she added.
The city council will make a final decision on the budget during its meeting on Sept. 9.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
