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University Daily Kansan, April 14. 1983
Elderly in day-care program break through isolation
By LA DONNA LONGSTREET
Staff Reporter
The elderly lady touched her hair, with a gnarled hand to assure herself that it was not mussed: Around the table sat her peers, with whom she was playing "Crazy Eight." Their faces were wrinkled and their movements slow as they placed cards on the table, but their age did not lessen their interest in new activities and in meeting new people.
Those interests are some of the reasons why the frail elderly participate in the adult day-care program at the Senior Center, 745 Vermont St., which incorporates many services for the elderly.
'they offer a good program and people I really like and have empathy with.' Lymn Sobel, a participant, said last week.
"They offer release for people who are unable to drive or walk," said Sobel, who had moved to Lawrence about a year ago. "It really gave me release, because when I first got here I didn't know anybody."
BUT) ALEX CONCHOLA, director of the Douglas County Planning Council on Services for Aging Inc., said the adult day-care might cease because its grant from the Kansas Department on Aging would be depleted April 30.
If the program is to continue, he said, more financing must be found. But he said he was optimistic about finding additional funds.
Adult day-care is divided into social and medical sites. The social site, known as the Community Club, is for frail elderly who do not have acute medical problems. The club meets in the Senior Center.
Marie Hardcastle, coordinator of the medical site, said the clients at the Senior's Day Health Center, which meets at Valleyview Care Home, 2518 Ridge Court, required more medical supervision.
SOME OF HER CLIENTS are disoriented, incontinent, in wheelchairs or recovering from strokes, she said, so she and her staff provide personal care, such as clipping toenails and giving baths.
"Here, we've done more personal hygiene type of care," she said. "If
Jan Larson, center, activity coordinator for the Community Club, helps sew a rug with two of the club's participants at the Senior Center, 745 Vermont St.
Families need a break from 24-hour care, she said. They can bring their elderly relative to Valleyview for five to seven hours a day, four days a week. But not all of the clients come that often, she said.
takes about an hour to do a bath right."
In addition to receiving medical care, the elderly participate in gardening.
"I think they get a lot of stimulation in either program," she said.
ATTENANCE DROPPED FROM
seven people last fall to three who came
last week, she said, but more people
were coming, now that the snow and
ice are gone.
Jan Larson, activity coordinator of the Community Club, said both sites charged the participants $1 an hour, which includes transportation to the sites and craft materials. At the Senior Center, clients also can have a noon meal for which they pay whatever they can afford, she said.
The Community Club, which is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., serves nine people, she said.
"There are four who are full-time and five who are part-time," she said. "We haven't had great numbers, partially due to the size limitations of our facilities. We're at capacity as far as people we can handle."
More elderly would come to the Community Club if they knew about it, Larson said, but she has refrained from advertising because of lack of space.
JILL QUADAGNO, 1830 AVALON,
who is Sobel's daughter, said her
mother had discovered the Community
Club herself.
"She enjoys the activities," said Quadagonio, who is a KU associate professor of chemistry at Northwestern and she's been tremendously important to her.
"She feels a lot better about herself,
She can make things that she gives to
the grandchildren, so she feels like
she's doing something. She's not
just the dependent one."
Priscilla McPheeers, an inspector of Douglas County nursing homes, said, "One thing that elderly people most prize is their independence. In order for them to grow old gracefully, it is necessary to help them maintain their independence."
Larson said the loss of friends, spouses and physical health had isolated many elderly within the confines of their homes. Such confinement can lead to depression and physical and mental degeneration, she said, and in some cases can eventually premature institutionalization.
"The Community Club allows people to enjoy their own homes and familiar
'I needed to meet people. I have learned how to do some things that I couldn't do when I first started. It makes a nice outing for me. I would be kind of lost without it.'
Lillian Hamm Community Club member
surroundings while meeting social needs," she said.
"It offers new activities that they haven't done before, such as creative drama and new crafts, as well as traditional dance," they've developed during their lifetime.
"There have been many times when they have been able to teach one another different skills. They work together on projects because of their different abilities that are needed to accomplish the project."
LILLIAN HAMM, A MEMBER of the Community Club, said, "I needed to meet people. I have learned how to do some things that I couldn't do when I first started. It makes a nice outing for me.
Being blind. I don't get out very much."
McPheeters said that about one of 10 people in America were over 60 and that 3 percent to 5 percent of people over 65 lived in nursing homes.
"I would be kind of lost without it.
"Most elderly people remain independent." she said.
"They need it for five days a week," he said. "We are involved in contacting individuals and the private sector and enlisting their support until we can get to a point where it will be self-supporting."
Larson said she thought that closing the day-care would be hard on the elderly, especially for the ones who come full time.
"I think they'll miss the outside stimulus," she said. "I think in some cases that the families might have to move." She was soon sooner than they would had to.
Emory Hamm, 3233 Iowa St., Lillian Hamm's son, said. "At the day-care she is able to do things with her hands and she enjoys doing things like that. It helps her because she doesn't get out much.
"I'm sure that she could do without it.
We would find something else for her to do."
Conchola said one important function of adult day-care was respite for families who kept aged relatives at home. Families can bring their parents to work or care working or when they simply need a break from constant care, he said.
Conchola said that operating the program only three days a week was a good choice.
CONCHOLA AND MCPHEETERS agreed that day-care was more economical than nursing homes if a person does not actually require nursing home attention. McPheeters said the average daily cost for nursing homes was $35, which is between $750 and $800 a month. He said that operating the
LARSON SAID THAT WHEN Hamm first started coming to the Community Club, she had been isolated and had no activities. Now, she has started making shag rugs, which she works on at home, and leather belts.
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"Her family says she is just becoming another person," Larson said. "She has just become a lot more outgoing."
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