A Windsor community centre wants all of its clients to be comfortable using its facilities.
On Friday, city officials showed off a new universal changing room addition for the Gino and Liz Marcus Community Complex in the Ford City neighbourhood. The room is designed to allow families and those with special needs to change for swimming, workouts and other activities.
The room is adjoining the swimming pool and provides private areas for families to change, as well as an accessible changing table and a dedicated barrier-free entrance to the pool deck.
The new space is ideal for parents like Jenifer Locknick, who has a son who requires frequent monitoring. Locknick says she had a variety of concerns about the old layout of the changing area.
"This was a concern for because with my son being special-needs, there's lots of distractions in the change room," says Locknick. "Showers running, people in there on their phones, predators. Anything could happen with him walking through."
The new changing room now makes it possible for families like Locknick's to change together, store their items in a locker, then walk to the pool area without being separated.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, who worked at the centre as a teenager, recalls helping residents use changing rooms while maneuvering to respect the user's privacy. He says this new facility makes that a thing of the past.
"This addition now provides a private area, but enables individuals who need the assistance of a family member or a trusted caregiver to help them prepare before participating in activities in the pool, fitness or gym areas, to have the assistance they need," says Dilkens.
The changing room project was funded by the city by a grant from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, as part of a Canada 150 project to make improvements to the Marcus Complex.
