By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It’s just possible that Rodna Metz Bordner should have been born with fins.
The Bowling Green woman finds peace and healing in water – and for 55 years she has been sharing those benefits with young children through elderly adults.
Bordner can’t be too long out of water. Even when traveling, she seeks out places to swim.
“I find pools wherever I go. It can be a pool, a pond, a lake or a river,” she said. “I’ve just always loved the water dearly.”
Bordner was recently inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame for her contributions to the field of adaptive aquatics for people with disabilities. As an occupational therapist, she developed programs for children with special needs.
For years Bordner worked at the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities pool located behind Wood Lane School.
These days, she can be found at the Wood County Hospital therapy pool, working with adults searching for safe activity and strengthening.
Since childhood, Bordner has been lured by the healing properties of water. Her mom was a swimming instructor, so Bordner always had her toes in the water.
By the time she was 9, she was on both competitive and synchronized swimming teams. As a young teenager, Bordner became a water safety instructor and lifeguard. She taught wherever she could, either as a professional or volunteer.
Bordner was always drawn to working with young children in the pool, especially those with physical or cognitive disabilities. She received her bachelor’s degree in special education from BGSU in 1974 and went on to be a classroom teacher at Wood Lane. In 1982, she became an occupational therapist in school-based therapy.
Then in 1994, Wood Lane built a pool, so she began to blend her aquatic skills with her occupational therapy career. She then began providing occupational therapy to children with multiple disabilities.
In 1995, she attended her first Aquatic Therapy and Rehab Institute event, and in 2001 she received the ATRI Tsunami Award (aquatics award for innovation in the aquatic industry) for her work with individuals with autism and sensory processing challenges.
Bordner retired from school-based practice in 2005 and began working in the rehab setting as a pediatric occupational therapist. Bordner began classes at the hospital therapy pool in 2006, teaching basic water safety, sensory classes for children with autism, and strength training.
Her students now at the hospital therapy pool range from their early 40s and late 90s.
“Last year I had five people in their 90s. It was great.”
She teaches five classes, twice a week.
“We’re working on those skills that we lose as we age,” she said, working on range of motion and strength.
The benefit of working in water is that lack of balance is not a problem.
“It equalizes skills. That’s the beauty of water – it puts everyone on a level playing field,” she said. “I can jump. I can move,” even play volleyball games.
And the therapy pool water, ranging from 88 to 89 degrees, is “excellent for relaxation.”
The benefits go beyond physical. When a class met last week, the senior students had smiles on their faces as they walked into the pool – or in one case, jumped in making a splash. They were instantly engaging in banter.
“It’s amazing how each class has their own community. They go out for lunch or dinner.”
“It’s a healing place,” Bordner said of the water.
