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1 7 | Friday October 20, 2017 | OAKVILLE BEAVER |www.insidehalton.com Goldfish Swim School: Swimming doesn't have to be scary There can be a lot of anxiety attached to attending swimming lessons. At Goldfish Swim School, the bright and tropical setting was created to make swimming lessons fun, engaging, and most importantly, comfortable for kids. The first Goldfish Swim School in Canada will be opening early November and registration for lessons is open now. The school specializes in lessons for kids 4-months to 12-years old, and the student to instructor ratio is maximum four-to-one so that kids receive specialized attention. They also do things a bit differently in regard to how the program is run. "Families can join or leave the program at anytime, you don't have to wait for the start or end of a session," explained Dave McKay, managing partner at the Oakville Goldfish Swim School. "It's called a perpetual model. One of the benefits of our model is instructors can graduate a child to the next level whenever the child is ready, go online or call us to prior to their scheduled class and book a make up. This allows children to attend consistently which is critical for their development. It also removes stress for the parents and ensures they receive value for their investment," he explained. Although the school isn't open yet, McKay encourages families to call and register now, "We're accepting registrations and our schedule is filling in. The response has been great." The Goldfish Swim School team will be visiting schools, daycares and community groups to provide water safety presentations. "Water safety and drowning prevention is our mission and community presentations are another way we help to teach children to be safe in and around water," said McKay. The Goldfish Swim School is located at 1130 Eighth Line Rd. in Oakville. Call 289-815-3806 or visit www.oakville. goldfishswimschool.com for more information or to register. they don't have to wait for the end of a session." This is unlike most swim schools that offer sessions for a certain number of weeks and by the end of them, the students either move on to the next level or repeat the class again. The perpetual model prevents instructors from feeling pressured to move children up prematurely or holding them back. "The model empowers instructors to move children to the next level when they have met all the goals of the level. And they start in the new level the very next week," said McKay. Make up classes are also offered at the school in case a student needs to miss a lesson one week. "Parents can Peak Home Health Care wants you to know you're not alone Aging is a difficult process - both for those who are getting older and realizing they can't do everything on their own anymore - and for their children and grandchil dren who become responsible for caring for them. Peak Home Health Care (PHHC) is a new service to Oakville and the GTA that allows seniors to live at home, and have a professional caregiver come to them and as sist with everything from gardening and groceries, to pro viding everyday medical assistance to those with health conditions. "The idea for Peak Home Health Care was inspired by our grandmother," said Tyler Stothers, co-founder of PHHC. "We would help her out, but she still wanted and needed her independence. Eventually her health de clined and the care she needed became greater but we did not want her to lose the comfort of being in her own home. That's when we realized there was a need for this service, and we couldn't be the only family in this posi tion." It was an ongoing project for a few years, which took a lot of research, but PHHC got its start at the beginning of this year. "We needed to investigate the need of our clients in a home setting before we could get started," explained Stothers. "I read an article recently, from "First Time in Human History", that in 2020, people ages 65 and older will outnumber those, ages 14 and under." As those numbers continue to grow, it will become more difficult for seniors to be placed into a retirement home, and although services like PHHC will become more ideal, getting them to accept external help to begin with, can be tough on its own. "That's actually one of the biggest challenges of the job; it's a strong-willed, proud generation and they don't like to ask for help," said Stothers. "They pride them selves on building a life, having financial security, and never asking anyone for anything, ever." But he explained that when you start noticing changes in behaviour or cognitive ability, depression or difficulties with household management tasks, it is time to take a closer look at what may be going on in the home. In order for the client to be as comfortable with the situation as possible, those at PHHC try their best to match the clients with caregivers that understand and respect their needs while maintaining their sense of in dependence. "Our workers try to facilitate a relationship, and treat everyone like family," explained Stothers, "It's about relationship building, and that usually doesn't take too long because we require that our caregivers be person able, flexible and empathetic. They're like an extension of the family who can take over and provide much need ed support." It can be as simple as companionship, light house keeping, dressing, laundry, meal preparation, and inter active activities. For those who need medical assistance, PHHC has personal care professionals, almost all of whom, have certifications in areas such as public food handling, medication administration, gentle persuasive approach, and Alzheimer's certifications. These personal care pro fessionals can provide services with administering medi cation, changing dressings, IV therapy, injury care, and pain management. Every member of the PHHCa team is required to have their basic CPR/first aid training, receive his or her an nual flu shot, pass the TB test, and are fully bonded and insured. PHHC workers also ensure that families receive regu lar updates on the ongoing care of their loved ones. "We have a strong follow-up process. Many families want to know what's happening every step of the way, but why wouldn't they?" said Stothers."We're taking care of their family, this is their loved one, and we ap preciate that. We were once in their shoes so we know firsthand the importance of ongoing communication." As the company continues to grow, Stothers explained that he wants to keep a small town, small business feel to the services. "Our goal is to alleviate the stress on fami lies that are working full time and struggling to provide the needed care for their loved ones. We want to make home care a viable option for all individuals that would prefer to stay in their own home for as long as possible." PHHC is located at 2384 Dalebrook Drive in Oakville. For more information call 905-582-7992, email info@ peakhomehealthcare.ca or visit www.peakhomehealthcare.ca.