County Partnership Helps Children Learn How to Swim

The collaboration is in its third session, and it is showing positive results.

Orange County, FL — Parents in Orange County can now sign their children up for free swim lessons at Rosen Aquatics and Fitness Center (RAFC). The announcement comes after Orange County Government, the Florida Department of Health in Orange County (DOH-Orange), and RAFC worked together to establish the “Every Child a Swimmer” program.

“In 2023, the County Commission approached me about what we’re doing to keep children safe in the water,” said Dr. Raul Pino, director of Orange County Health Services. “We used $30,000 in the budget to work with DOH-Orange and Rosen Aquatics to offer the program for free to children in underprivileged communities.”

DOH-Orange launched the pilot program in 2024. Within 24 hours, more than 2,000 children were registered for the program.

“The pilot program proved there was an immediate growing need for child swim lessons in the community. Dr. Robert Karch, director of DOH-Orange, and I presented the pilot’s findings and costs to the Orange County Citizens’ Commission for Children, which agreed to fund its expansion. We saw positive outcomes after last year’s session and expect to see the same once the program concludes later this year,” Dr. Pino added.

The program builds on Florida’s “Every Child a Swimmer” law, passed in 2021. This law requires schools to provide families with water safety information and local swim school resources. That same year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked Florida fourth in the nation for unintentional drowning deaths across all ages.

The program is an eight-week course and is held at RAFC. DOH-Orange is offering transportation for children whose parents deal with scheduling and travel conflicts. Currently, the program has over 4,000 on the waiting list. Parents interested in signing up for the waitlist can contact DOH-Orange by calling (407) 723-5004.