Jet ski racing champion educates children as she seeks to transform Alabama health

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 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

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before my junior year of high school, and I maintained my GPA plus first chair of the second violins in the symphony.”

The win brought more opportunity, with a full sponsorship offer for the following racing season— but there was a caveat: she must turn pro to earn a paycheck. “My mom and I prayed fervently for God’s guidance,” says Christy. “We trusted that the Lord would open and close doors to guide my path according to His will.” After applying to various colleges in California but not qualifying for scholarships or financial aid, Christy’s sponsors mentioned that winning jet ski races could pay for college, so, “the decision was made.”

Over the next 15 years, racing became Christy’s life—and business. “It required every bit of education I could glean to support money management, science-based fitness and nutrition, contract negotiations, journalism, public speaking, and boating safety advocacy through the US Coast Guard Auxiliary,” she said. She also won six professional world and national championships and did stunt work for film and TV.

After two years of over-training led to injuries, Christy turned to a top sports performance center that helped her recover and reach peak fitness conditioning through heart-rate conditioning and nutrient density. “The physical demand of a jet ski race is extreme. Every muscle is engaged, from constant deep knee bends through the choppy water, to pushing and pulling with the arms in and out of turns and leaning forward over the handlebars supporting a wet helmet with the neck and back,” she says. “During a 20-minute moto, a racer’s heart rate never drops below 80% of max. Racers are mostly anaerobic during a moto (80% to 100% of maximum heart rate). The most fit racers can still think and apply strategy toward the end of a race. This newly discovered, evidence-based, measurable fitness conditioning saved my career and led to more championships and endorsements in the health and fitness industry.”

The new endorsements also led Christy to her now-husband, Dr. Swaid N. Swaid, an Alabama neurosurgeon. When they married, Christy retired and moved across the country from Los Angeles. “Alabama became my “sweet home” in 2002,” she says. “My life’s experiences in racing and marine rescue, both good and bad, led to the development of the HEAL—Healthy Eating Active Living— mission. This new season—marriage, children— inspired me to shift my attention toward children’s health and wellness. Just as accidents on the waterway threaten innocent people trying to have a good time, poor health behaviors threaten the quality of life of everyone, especially children. I feel HEAL is a rescue mission no less critical than a Coast Guard search-and-rescue.”

Even before childhood obesity was a pressing issue, Christy was concerned at the rising percentage of young people showing early signs of chronic diseases. “Many of these health consequences were simply due to a lack of adequate nutrition and effective exercise. I also noticed it was a multigenerational problem.” She wanted to improve children’s health while also transforming Alabama’s health culture. The way to do it: Teach both kids and their families healthy lifestyle behaviors through the education system.

“My husband is a world-renowned neurosurgeon, and he helped me pull together a brilliant advisory board of doctors, state leaders, and educators to discuss a strategy. The idea of transforming physical education into a measurable health experience using heart-rate monitor technology and teaching nutrient density with custom, active games was cutting-edge.”

Christy recognized that she needed an education ally, and she found him in one of her husband’s patients, Dr. Jack Farr—superintendent of education for Hoover City Schools. “He loved the HEAL idea and gave me full authority to test it in a Hoover elementary school. It proved to be a winning solution for the teacher and the students,” she says. Though Dr. Farr passed away from a malignant brain tumor, before he died, he made his wife, Janice, and Christy promise not to give up on HEAL. “Janice, a retired teacher, has served on the HEAL executive board of directors since inception, and we named our “Innovation” room at the HEAL headquarters after Dr. Farr. He had the courage to launch a program that was ahead of its time, and his final words kept me from giving up.”

Over the years, Christy and Swaid combined their experiences in medicine, education, and fitness to create HEAL. “We represent the bookends of health: he on the treatment side, me on the preventive side.” The two recently opened a hospital—Swaid Vestavia Medical Center—where they provide diagnostics, clinical offices, lab work, outpatient surgery, physical therapy, and pain management. “Every day we see the need for the HEAL program more than ever,” says Christy. “The best treatment for managing preexisting

conditions is what we teach through HEAL. It’s for everyone. Science tells us the potential consequences of poor health and obesity, including heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, anxiety, and depression, become most prevalent in children by age 10, and are most easily reversible in children who have not yet gone through puberty. Because of that, HEAL for elementary students has always been our bedrock program, but we continue to add programs to support those students through high school and into adulthood.”

HEAL supports schools across Alabama, but Jefferson County represents their largest service area, with 47 participating schools as of fall 2021 and eight more in Shelby County. The program is provided at no cost to schools. “We include teacher training and ongoing support, student health assessments, curriculum, supplies, and family education,” says Christy. “We even provide a stipend for schools to hire a substitute teacher on training days. We are especially proud that 98% of schools that implement HEAL stay with the program long-term.”

She also notes that more than 70% of the schools implementing HEAL are Title I, and the program’s model ensures that schools with few resources—even those without a gym or PE equipment—can be just as measurably successful as those with full facilities.

The curriculum not only teaches these behavior modifications, but it also offers strategic application. “The methods address age-relevant health and wellness needs,” says Christy. “K-12 lessons are taught in the context of PE, career tech classes, health classes, and more. HEAL bolsters Strong Start, Strong Finish (SSSF) education initiative goals by integrating emergent reading skills with health and wellness behaviors for earlychildhood developmental stages. There is ongoing support for each grade, reinforcing grade-level reading markers and health-promoting behaviors that the whole family is encouraged to practice. The “strong finish” circle is completed by introducing middle and high school students to career readiness skills that emphasize health, academic performance, and financial fitness; these three pillars are intrinsically linked to support health by overcoming poverty. HEAL provides high school and college students opportunities to acquire quality community service hours, job referrals and placements, opportunities for higher education, and internship rotations.”

As a motivational tool, “HEAL Heroes”—a student, teacher, or community member who embraces the HEAL lifestyle and actively helps others succeed in it—are recognized each year at assemblies, conferences, and in other public spaces. “Teachers report that the HEAL Hero component has reduced bullying and mean-spirited competitiveness in many classrooms by promoting and rewarding self-respect and respect for others,” says Christy.

To reinforce the newly learned practices outside school, HEAL incorporates “HEAL at Home,” with materials that equip children to become health leaders in their homes. “Students are provided take-home materials with exercise tips, meal plans, and other healthy habits. Providing families with education and practical application promotes healthy lifestyle changes for multiple generations,” says Christy.

Christy notes that the program is obviously working: “During control intervention research efforts in 2006, statisticians from UAB and Samford confirmed that HEAL students improve their cardiovascular fitness scores, knowledge of nutrition and disease prevention, and the health behaviors of their household members in statistically significant margins.” HEAL United remains steadfast in its commitment to participants. “It’s a source of encouragement for thousands of family members,” Christy says. “The need for HEAL is multiplying by the day.”

When it comes to resources to face the need, HEAL partners with the Alabama State Department of Education, which provides some funding. The nonprofit is also supported by grants, sponsorships, and donations. But Christy has something bigger planned for this year. “The jet ski racing industry is celebrating its 40th anniversary in October. I plan to put some of my racing paraphernalia up for auction,” says Christy. “An online silent auction will open on our website in September, leading up to the world finals in October. All bids and donations will be directed to HEAL Inc. to help implement underserved schools. A common racing tagline is “Go Big or Go Home,” and this fundraising effort will be referred to as “reckless generosity.” We are asking everyone to capture the extreme sport spirit by digging deep and giving big! Great things happen when we unite as a family.”

For more information about HEAL United, visit healunited.org.