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Center gets city tobacco funds for local senior services
Live Oak Adult Day Services set to receive $150,000
By Kate Carter
Live Oak Adult Day Services in Willow Glen will get its first full-time program director, thanks to a $150,000 infusion of city tobacco money over the next three years.
"It's a weight off my shoulders," Live Oak's Executive Director Colleen Hudgen said. "It's stable funding. This gives us a big sigh of relief."
The Minnesota Avenue Senior Center provides programming and socialization for frail and at-risk seniors. It received one of 110 grants that the city council approved in December.
The money comes from San Jose's Healthy Neighborhoods Venture Fund, which oversees the distribution of its tobacco settlement money. The city estimates the fund will receive $250 million over the next 25 years.
The city has prioritized using the money for senior services because of the expected boom in the senior population.
Live Oak's grant money will be used to hire a new program director for the agency's downtown center, Hudgen said. Currently, the downtown and Willow Glen sites share a single director, Telma Cramer. Cramer will remain full time at Willow Glen when the new director is hired.
The money will also allow for a part-time program specialist position and cover some programming costs, Hudgen said.
Live Oak also has centers in Los Gatos and Gilroy. The Willow Glen site, which opened last September, is the agency's newest.
The center operates from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and provides breakfast, hot lunch and activities to approximately 30 seniors a day, Hudgen said.
Many of the seniors who attend the center live with family members, and some suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia and other age-related problems. They need more supervision and support than those who attend more traditional senior centers intended for more able-bodied people.
In addition, a large number of the seniors are low income. Seniors pay for the program on a sliding scale of $14 to $40 daily, but some pay even less.
The center writes numerous grants and receives money from other foundations and corporations, such as the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley and Catholic Healthcare West, in order to operate, she said.
Hudgen said interest in the Live Oak center in Willow Glen has been growing since their open house.
"We have, on a daily basis, been having one or two people walk in and want to know more about this," she said. "Those types of things just keep us on our toes."
She added that they have not yet had to turn anyone away who wanted to participate in the program. Many of their clients only attend a few days each week because the activities and stimulation can tire them out.
San Jose chose to earmark a quarter of its tobacco money for senior programs and another quarter for anti-tobacco education efforts. The remaining half will be used for other health-related outreach.
Janice Eckles, senior analyst with the city's department of parks, recreation and neighborhood services who oversees the Healthy Neighborhoods grants, said Live Oak was one of 14 senior programs selected.
She said Live Oak received the entire amount it asked for because of its proven track record of meeting the community's needs and adhering to the city's policies for providing services.
"There's a critical need for seniors in the area right now and there are not enough providers," Eckles said. "Live Oak is one of the few senior adult service programs that received multiyear funding. There's a real need to provide support services to low-income seniors."
Eckles said city officials expect its population of people over the age of 85 to double in the next 10 years. Many of these are seniors with few resources, who need daily care and supervision. Seniors are often better off living with their families than at full-time caregiving facilities, Eckles said.
Programs such as Live Oak's allow caregivers a break from their responsibilities and give seniors important stimulation and social interaction. San Jose wants to help such programs as Live Oak's that help keep seniors at home and give support to their families, she said.
Eckles said the city office was asked to squeeze an eight-month process into six weeks, in order to begin funneling the money to the community as soon as possible. The committee made its recommendations to the council on Dec. 5, and those were approved with modifications by the council on Dec. 12. Final appropriations were approved on Dec. 19.
Live Oak will receive $30,000 from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2001. It will receive $60,000 for each of the following two fiscal years, 2001-02 and 2002-03. The first payment comes at the end of March. The center can expect the rest of the funding through June 2003, at the end of each fiscal quarter.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
