
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 28, 1994                   TAG: 9410280072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YWCA DELAYS DECISION

A member of the YWCA of Roanoke Valley board of directors broke some of the puzzling silence that has surrounded the future of the organization's Salem center this week, saying that the board still is mulling over the matter.

"It's such a big thing that we couldn't get it done in one night," Dolores Mitchell said Thursday, referring to a board meeting Tuesday during which the Salem center was discussed.

"It's like an extension, to give us time to work out some things," Mitchell said. "I know we are going to have a statement."

Closing the center would affect more than YWCA members, Mitchell said. Consideration must be given to the agencies, businesses and organizations that use the center, she said.

Mount Regis Center, an alcohol and drug treatment center in Salem, uses the YWCA center once a week for volleyball and basketball, an activities-therapy component of its treatment program.

If the YWCA center closed, "we would have no real alternatives," said Mark Cowell, Mount Regis administrator. "It would be difficult with our treatment program to use the downtown [Roanoke YWCA]."

Cowell said he wrote a letter to YWCA administrators when he found out the board was considering closing the Salem center.

"I wrote that perhaps there were more groups like Mount Regis Center that could use the YWCA," he said. "With increased utilization, maybe it could help the Y meet its financial goals. Instead of shutting down, aggressively seek to increase utilization of the facility."

About 30 patients from the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center use the Salem center's indoor heated swimming pool for recreational therapy. Ranging from early 40s to age 96, they include cardiac-rehabilitation patients and those who suffer from arthritis or other joint diseases.

"It's the closest warm-water pool around," said Daniel Bence, the VA's chief of recreation-therapy services. "If they closed the center we would have no other alternatives."

The medical center has a pool, but it is outdoors. The YWCA center's pool is the only one of its kind in Salem that can be accessed by the public, through membership or group affiliation.

The Salem center is housed in an activities building on Roanoke College's Elizabeth campus. The building has an indoor swimming pool, a full-sized gymnasium and three multipurpose rooms.

The YWCA has leased the property from the college since 1985.

by CNB