ACTIVE LIVING
PHOTOGRAPH BY WYNTER BYRD
Christy Swaid’s health education program is making a positive impact on the entire state.
Hope, Health, and
HEAL
HEAL United pairs education and practical tools to offer a healthier future for Alabama schoolchildren and their families BY STEPHANIE GIBSON LEPORE “The HEAL United story is one anchored in faith, family, and community, as well as overcoming setbacks and forging new beginnings,” says founder and CEO Christy Swaid, who is also a six-time jet ski racing champion. It begins in the 1970s, when Christy’s dad managed jet ski rentals at a South Florida resort. Christy and her two older brothers kept busy riding themselves. “My brothers were older,” she says. “The rule was to keep up or be left alone. I was always over my head riding full throttle so they would include me.” In the early 1980s, jet ski racing was rising to prominence. “ESPN covered the tour, and the ratings competed with summer baseball ratings,” says Christy. “At age 13, I begged my dad to sign me up for one of the national races in our 12 Bham Family August 2021
hometown of Ft. Myers. We picked out the best jet ski among our rental fleet, borrowed a helmet, and I signed up to race in the beginners-novice class.” That race began Christy’s successful run. Just a couple years after the first race, at age 15, Christy was offered a full sponsorship to race the national tour and world finals in the amateur division. Even better, it was for the world’s top race team. “Accepting required me to travel from Chicago—where I lived with my mother and grandfather during the school year—to practice in California on weekends, as well as take a week off school for the finals,” says Christy. “My mother embraced my passion but set a rule that if my grades slipped, jet ski racing ends. I ended up winning the amateur championship the summer CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
