Today we’d like to introduce you to Elisa Hernandez-Montero
Hi Elisa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story began years ago without even knowing it. My godson had a near drowning accident when he was 2 years old. I remember sitting outside the PICU with his mom praying he would be ok. God listened and thankfully he was ok. It was in that moment watching the nurses care for him that I know I was going to be a nurse. Years later I was a nurse working in the ER until my son was born and I became a stay at home mommy. The first thing I did was put him in swim lessons. I didn’t know about ISR till my second son was born though . A fellow trauma nurse friend of mine posted a video of her son doing ISR lessons and I quickly reached out to the instructor to sign my baby up. My youngest was unable to finish lessons due to being in the hospital with various respiratory infections before the instructor informed us she was moving away. When I asked who could finish his classes she stated the closest ISR instructor was in Weston. So a light went off and that is when I found my calling as an ISR instructor. I did my training and formed SoMi ISR. That was two 1/2 years ago and it the best decision I could have made. Still saving lives same as when I was a nurse but in a different way and in my opinion more impactful way. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children 1-4 years old. It became my mission to build a company that could help prevent what happened to my god son from happening to anyone else. Now only two 1/2 years later I have built a team of two additional amazing instructors Mari Gonzalez and Desiree Blandon. As a team we work together to teach as many children as possible with 4 different locations. All three of us moms to a total of 4 rowdy boys know how important the mission is “ not one more child lost to drowning” and we take pride in teaching children and families how to prevent their child from falling victim to a very much preventable accident. Through love, compassion, patience and teaching we can achieve that goal.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing in life is easy and as a mother’s of a combined 4 young boys doing a 6 week intensive in water and in classroom training was hard. But with the support of our familiesI we each were able to complete training and begin our journey as an ISR instructors. Building a business is also never easy. While keeping a balance between being present for our boys and building the business It’s been a learning curve. But here we are 2 1/2 years later and now our boys have not only helped us but they have made friends with every student that comes to lessons.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are 3 moms on a mission to stop childhood drownings. Moms who can relate to every one of our swim families and know the fears and struggles we as moms go through with our babies. We don’t only teach kids how to swim we teach them how to self rescue. As lesson progress the tears become smiles and it’s our patience and love that give both the child and parent confidence in our abilities to teach their child.l these life saving skills. It’s not easy to see your child cry but we make sure to show love and compassion to every child and parent so they feel safe and confident that SoMi ISR was the right choice for their family. We also teach parents water safety throughout the lessons. Just because the child can self rescue doesn’t make them drown proof so we make sure to give them all the tools to prevent the child for reaching the water and as a last resort if they did find themselves in the water alone mommy and daddy have time to get to them because they will be floating and breathing.
What does success mean to you?
To us success is every time we see a child go from not knowing how navigate the water and possibly downing to falling in and self-rescuing. See the parent’s reactions when the child floats for the first time alone or the first time they rotate to find air. It’s a feeling that never gets old. Success is seeing each year the number of drowning decrease because of our training. It the smiles at the end of lessons and the child’s feeling of accomplishment that make our jobs so amazing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.somiisr.com
- Instagram: @somi.isr
- Facebook: @somiisr
