A cost-effective alternative to traditional nursing homes, adult day care centers are emerging as a popular substitute to perennial nursing systems often synonymous with aging in America. However, funding for state services is in question and the remedial care these nonprofits offer is in jeopardy.
The fiscal waters appear tumultuous for adult day care as California makes preparations to sever senior services that are, in part, helping inflate the bulbous $23.4 deficit. The most drastic of these will eliminate all state general funds to Adult Day Health Care and possibly even Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers.
For Mills-Peninsula Senior Focus, which runs under the umbrella of both these licenses, the impact has the potential to be twice as severe if the projected state budget cuts go ahead as planned.
“We are at risk to lose funding for a third of our Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Center, but it’s our Medi-Cal participants who face the biggest threat,” said Maureen Dunn, director of Senior Focus. “At this level, Adult Day Health Care participants are extremely frail, but transferring them from day care to a nursing home will ultimately end up costing the state much more.”
Despite the challenges, the trend of providing alternative senior care is growing as more Californians seek substitutes to expensive nursing homes.
A fairly new approach to caring for the elderly, adult day care diverges from nursing homes in a variety of ways. Though they cannot provide patient medical care — a right reserved for adult day health care, San Mateo County Aging and Adult Services stipulates that all centers within their jurisdiction must supply seniors with essential daytime protective supervision, nutrition, activities and transportation coordination. Through social interaction and active therapeutic intervention, program involvement gives those at risk for institutional or long-term placement a fresh alternative that can stave further mental denigration.
The volunteer-run San Mateo County Commission on Aging and the Commission on Disabilities, which jointly advise the Aging and Adult Services, stress that the balance between independence and community involvement promoted by these centers is critical for both seniors and their families.
For the Asmar family, adult day care is the ideal solution. They value keeping family members amongst one another as long as possible, but also need occasional respite from the commitment required to do so.
“My heart would break if I had to put her in a nursing home,” said Rana Asmar, whose mother currently suffers from level six Alzheimer’s disease. “I feel her health would decline much quicker if she was placed in one.”
Asmar’s mother is at San Carlos Adult Day Center run by Catholic Charities CYO, one of the largest nonprofit providers of social services in the Bay Area, and she respects the receptive and attentive care her mother receives there.
“I’m so blessed and happy to know that there are services like this for Alzheimer’s patients in my community,” Asmar said.
Menlo Park-based Rosener House is another successful adult day service center on the Peninsula. Tucked away in the amicable residential neighborhood at 500 Arbor Road, this volunteer-run center has adapted its range of affordable rehabilitation services for adults with special needs for more than 25 years. Sparked by the ambitions of the Peninsula Volunteers program, Rosener House’s sustained services are a testament to the passion and will of the volunteers who run it. Donations of time and money, plus operating outside the Adult Day Health Care classification should insulate Rosener House from upcoming state budget cuts.
Nevertheless, the aging of the baby boomer generation and the lofty price of nursing homes means economical day services like Rosener House will remain in high demand.
It’s very important for the community to come together and support one another,” said Lisa Mancini, director of San Mateo County Aging and Adult Services.
CiminoCare, Inc. has served Burlingame for 20 years with three communities that provide a variety of senior living options. Now securely situated down the block from a Burlingame fire station on 755 California Ave., CiminoCare’s new facility has opened their doors and is currently accepting families.
The new senior day center, transformed from a women’s fitness center into the now spacious, Art Deco inspired interior, shows few signs of inheritance other than the hardwood floors, capacious mirrors and utilitarian support bars still found in the designated fitness area.
“We wanted to combine a homelike setting with old-world hospitality,” said Christian Vinluan, CiminoCare’s community relations coordinator. “What we provide is great service for seniors at a reasonable cost.”
Being privately operated, CiminoCare should be able to keep their prices honest, though that may not be the case for many other no-profit, adult day health centers that rely on state subsidies for portions of their funding.
“It’s a new concept that can be hard to operate,” said Mary Ann Cimino Shinn, CiminoCare’s director of marketing, “particularly in terms of the financial challenges.”
To find out more information about San Mateo County adult day care centers and how you can help their cause, please contact the TIES line directly at 1-800-675-TIES (8437). (source)