Give your child the competence, confidence and skills of aquatic safety with ISR Self-Rescue.
What is ISR?
Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is the safest and most effective provider of survival swimming lessons worldwide, teaching ISR Self-Rescue skills to children ages 6 months to 6 years old. With more than 55 years of research and experience, and the highest safety standards in the industry, ISR is able to deliver the best survival swimming instruction in the world today. The result? Over 19 million safe and effective lessons delivered, providing children with a foundation for safety and a lifetime of fun in and around the water.
Today, our mission, “Not One More Child Drowns,” is the foundation of everything we do. ISR believes in multiple layers of protection against aquatic accidents, which include pool fences, alarms, and active adult supervision. However, traditional lines of defense break down, and the over 4,000 drowning deaths per year bear a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches are missing a key component: the child. ISR’s core conviction is that the child is essential to a drowning prevention strategy. Our over 450,000 ISR graduates and hundreds of documented survival stories prove that children can and do save themselves. Children are curious, capable, and have an uncanny ability to overcome obstacles like pool fences; at ISR, we take that ability and teach them skills to potentially save themselves if they find themselves in the water alone.
Meet Your Instructor
Hello! My name is Joan Arpe, and I have been a Certified ISR Instructor for over 30 years.
I grew up in Palm Beach surfing, swimming, and generally spending lots of time in the water. I am still an avid surfer and a founding member of the Surfrider Foundation Palm Beach County chapter and the Jupiter Nose Riders Surf Club, as well as being involved with the Surfing Florida Museum in West Palm Beach. I proudly volunteer time and resources to the Live Like Jake (LLJ) organization and teach afternoon lessons at the LLJ pool in Palm Beach Gardens.
I discovered the ISR program through my sister, Mary. When Mary's daughter was three years old, she took swimming lessons with a different program, and Mary was not satisfied with the results. She withdrew my niece, Sarah, from lessons and thankfully found two ISR Instructors teaching in Palm Beach County. Sarah made fantastic progress, and when I saw her ISR lessons, I knew I had to be involved!
I completed my ISR Instructor training in 1993 and began teaching in Palm Beach and Jupiter. Over the years, I have made ISR available throughout the area, including the pools at the Mandel JCC, PGA National, Jupiter Country Club, FAU Jupiter campus, the Jupiter Island Club, Mira Sol, and Sailfish Club.
I conduct lessons in Jupiter, West Palm, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter Island, and Palm Beach. I also give stroke instruction to my students after completing the swim-float-swim course. In the last 30 years, I have taught over 2,800 children how to swim and survive with ISR skills.
I have met so many great friends and families through ISR and do not consider ISR a "job" or "work"; teaching ISR Self-Rescue skills to children is a privilege. I love running into my students who are now in middle school, high school, and college all around Jupiter and Tequesta. Many of my students compete in swimming and surfing on national levels and in college.
When I am not teaching or at the beach surfing, I am a realtor and have been for over 35 years. I typically refer my clients to my daughter, Marina. She was an ISR Instructor for ten years. Marina taught ISR in Miami, NYC, LA, and the Hamptons and created a successful ISR business. She is now a realtor at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. If you need help with anything from a short-term rental to listing a luxury property, reach out about your real estate needs!
ISR in the News
A couple whose son drowned is putting their grief to use by raising money for scholarships to teach other kids how to swim and survive. | WPTV News - FL Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast
Florida parents take steps to prevent drowning deaths. | NBC2 News, Fort Myers, FL
Baby boy saved himself from drowning thanks to swimming lessons. | WPBF 25, West Palm Beach, FL
ISR training teaches babies life-saving water skills | CBS12, Jupiter, FL
“ISR’s core conviction is that the child is the most important part of a drowning prevention strategy.”
— JoAnn Barnett, ISR SMI, President & CEO of Infant Swimming Resource