Saratoga, California Since
1955
Seniors
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Closure of day program creates difficult transition for seniors Sharp decline in funding for adult day services 
Judy Ludwick (right) plays bingo with her father, George Brown, at the senior center in Sunnyvale. By Rita Baum George Brown started attending the Sunnyvale Senior Day Program after a stroke left his upper extremities paralyzed. He is grateful that his mind was unaffected by the stroke, and that he still has use of his right hand, and his legs, which carry him slowly. After the stroke, he continued to live in Sunnyvale with his son, who works long hours. His daughter Judy drove daily from San Jose to help him with dressing, cooking and other tasks. When Judy's health began to fail, George decided to try the senior day program in hopes of relieving his daughter of the strain of daily care. To his pleasant surprise, he found that he enjoyed the social and mental stimulation afforded by socializing, joking with the volunteer college students at the center, and participating in mind and word games like Trivia and Yahtzee. George has recently moved to a residential care home not far from the senior day center, but he lives with his son on weekends. The Sunnyvale Senior Adult Day Program has continued to be his main source of mental, physical and social stimulation. Unfortunately, George, along with 26 other physically or mentally frail Sunnyvale Senior Day Services participants, will have to move to the Cupertino site. The 12-year old nonprofit, licensed day center, which charges seniors based on their ability to pay, will close its doors on July 8. The closure is due to a 40 percent drop in United Way funding and declining financial support from individuals and corporations since the economy began its downward slide in March of 2000 and continued to worsen after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Donations from the day center's last annual mail appeal for support brought in 25 percent less in funding, and although support from The Silicon Valley Charity Ball Foundation, Rotary Club and Council on Aging has continued, there are insufficient funds to keep the day center open. The center needs $60,000 to reopen. George will be welcome at neighboring Cupertino Senior Day Services, and Outreach Transport Services will continue to provide transportation, but it will mean a change and an adjustment to new surroundings - a transition that is difficult for people who are physically or mentally frail and semi-dependent upon others. Judy fears that her father will not adjust well to the larger center, but the Cupertino staff members have assured her that participants spend a good deal of the time with smaller groups of people with similar interests and abilities. Providing care Community-based centers help frail adults, whose ability to remain independent is threatened, to retain maximum independence by providing stimulation, protection, recreation, and socialization up to five days a week. They also provide at least one nutritious hot meal, personal care and assistance - and in some cases, the monitoring of medications. For many elderly spouses and other family caregivers, the centers provide the only respite available. The admission process includes an assessment to determine appropriateness for service and level of need, a doctor's diagnosis, absence of contagious disease and a tuberculosis clearance. Care is taken to ensure appropriate placement that will help maintain independence and the highest attainable level of functioning, and avoid premature or unnecessary institutionalization. Adult day programs are licensed and periodically inspected by the Santa Clara County Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Services division. The most frequent medical conditions of participants in Santa Clara County are stroke, heart condition, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes and early- and mid-stage Alzheimer's and Parkinson's dementia. Fifty-eight percent use a cane, walker or wheelchair. Many require assistance with toileting or are incontinent as a result of their conditions. Females outnumber males two to one, with ages ranging from 60 to 90. Most Bay Area adult day programs are nonprofit, offering service on a sliding fee basis, with the lowest cost ranging from free to $11 a day. Live Oak Senior Day Centers also experienced a 40 percent cut in funding from the United Way. Colleen Hudgen, executive director of the four Live Oak centers, reports that some Los Gatos and Willow Glen Center participants whose fees were paid by their children dropped from full pay to zero when the children employed in Silicon Valley high-tech firms were laid off. In addition, participation in and support of their biggest fundraising events dropped, and for the first time the annual mail appeal brought in just enough money to pay for printing and postage. "We're trying to hang in there for those people who are in need of the program, but even our six instructors paid for by West Valley College have been cut," says Hudgen. Caregiver relief Hudgen often gets phone calls from grateful caregivers who say that their frail, elderly parents or spouses could not have continued living at home if it weren't for the program. One 82-year-old Campbell caregiver says that she could not have taken care of her husband for so long without those three days of relief when he is at the Los Gatos center. The Saratoga Adult Day Services program does not receive United Way funding, but Philip Gould, finance chairman for the all-volunteer Saratoga Senior Coordinating Council, says that fundraising is an ongoing year-round effort. Fundraising events and a mail appeal - along with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money, a small grant from the Council on Aging and program fees based on ability to pay - help keep the program open. Saratoga, like most senior day programs, has dozens of volunteers who provide thousands of hours a year in hands-on, one-on-one help at the day program and help with four labor-intensive fundraising events, raising $198,000 annually from all sources. "Twenty-five frail adults currently attend the 22-year old Cupertino Senior Day Services," reports Kimberly Fern, executive director of Cupertino/Sunnyvale Senior Day Services. Fern considers the accommodation of the Sunnyvale seniors a temporary consolidation. "Forty-five percent of our caregivers work," she continues. "The rest are siblings or spouses, themselves elderly." Cupertino also has a strong volunteer component that makes it possible for the center to offer a wide variety of services, including two Stanford volunteer nurses who check blood pressure and monitor medications - a further indication that volunteers are the backbone of nonprofit organizations. Cupertino can accommodate all the Sunnyvale participants, but there will be a waiting list for new enrollees who want to attend all five days. A typical senior day program includes exercise, word games, current events, crafts, music programs, entertainment and conversation with other elders. Participants are grouped according to mental and physical functioning abilities. Many are hesitant about starting the program but quickly make friends and soon enjoy having a place to go and a variety of people to talk to every day. The closing of the Sunnyvale facility brings a shudder to staff and participants of the nine other adult day programs as they continue their fundraising struggles. Sunnyvale participants will miss old friends and familiar surroundings and hope for the reopening of the Sunnyvale site. Most families prefer to keep their frail older relatives at home as long as possible, but without the respite afforded by senior adult day services, the physical and emotional burden of caregiving is great. Rita Baum is a Los Gatos resident. She has a master's degree in gerontology and has worked in the field of aging for more than 20 years. Resources Senior Adult Day Services Cupertino Senior Day Services 20920 McClellan Road Cupertino, 96014 408-973-0905 www.seniordaycare.org Live Oak Adult Day Services, Los Gatos 19 High School Court Los Gatos, 95030 408-354-4782 Live Oak Adult Day Services, Willow Glen 1147 Minnesota Ave. San Jose, 95125 408-971-9363 Saratoga Adult Care Center 19656 Allendale Ave. Saratoga, 95070 408-868-1262 Adult Day Health Services (licensed medical staff) MACSA Adult Day Health Center 130 N. Jackson Ave. San Jose, 95116 408-928-1155 Avenidas Senior Day Health Center 701 East Meadow Drive Palo Alto, 94303 650-494-8018 Alzheimer's Day Services Alzheimer's Activity Center 2380 Enborg Lane San Jose, 95126 408-279-7519 |
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