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Adult Day Health Offers Programming, Support
By Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
03:37AM / Saturday, April 11, 2015
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Having dessert at Adult Day Care in North Adams. The program provides activities and medical support for elders.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Adult Day Health provides a nurturing, stimulating, and fun environment for disabled and elderly adults in the community.

Settled in the back of the Brien Center, there is a constant shuffle of activity in the Adult Day Health Program room. Between meals, crafts, performances, karaoke, and of course the ever popular bingo, every client can't help but to smile.

Program Manager Ce Swanson said the program focuses on providing aid and care to disabled adults and delaying the need of long term care facilities.  

"The principle service … is to keep people as healthy and as independent as possible for as long as possible so they can remain in the home of their choice for as long as possible," Swanson said. "Studies have shown the industry is really effective in keeping people out of long-term care settings."

While the program works within the Brien Center, it is not dedicated purely to mental health but follows a medical model. She said the program works closely with Elder Services, local councils on aging, clients' primary physicians and case managers, as well as other supportive groups.

The program is well equipped with a nursing facility that can meet almost all clients' medical needs. Staff provides medication, makes sure clients take medication properly, and provide medical care.

"If there is a change in the patient's status or we see something coming on the horizon that could become an issue we will contact the caregiver and give them a heads up," she said. "We will work together to find a solution, and we are part of a continuum of care."

The pogrom runs Monday through Friday for six hours a day. From the moment clients are dropped off at the building, they are met with a stream of activity.

Swanson said they are served a continental breakfast as soon as they arrive while staff sets up. After, they participate in activities such as chair-based exercise programs and fall prevention courses. Clients then participate in some sort of game, which is actually another form of exercise with a competitive edge.

Swanson said the staff provides and eats lunch with the clients so they can monitor their eating because many suffer from choke issues or have diabetes.

Swanson said some form of entertainment such as bingo, crafts, pet therapy, theater productions, and karaoke is provided next, however anyone tuckered out can rest in one of the many recliners or settle in in the facility's library.

Swanson said staff takes great pride in offering a variety of fun activities.

"We try hard to keep it from feeling stale because some components are sort of regular parts of the colander so whenever things start to feel a little too routine, we will try to shake that up," she said. "For example, we have one gal out here who loves crafts so we try to structure crafts around her; we have a gentleman who loves to sing so we try to make sure that the entertainment components are on a day when he is here."

David Costa cares for one of the clients who enjoys Adult Day Health's services. He said his friend Tom fits right in.

"They give him a microphone and he walks around on karaoke day here, and the women here clap and love him; they think he's Elvis," Costa said. "He gets so much out of it, and the staff here are really attentive, they are gentle, and there is not a staff member here I would have a problem with with him. I love them all."

He said this was not always the case for Tom, who had suffered mistreatment in care facilities that did not have the proper staffing numbers to fit the his needs. Costa said after Tom came home with bruises from other clients and said he was being teased, Costa new it was time to find a different program.

"We pulled him from the site and put him here and since he has been here, which has been years, the staff has been excellent with him," he said. "He comes with an array of interesting behaviors … and they have been wonderful about it. He went from the person being picked on to the person that prides himself on taking care of individuals here."

Costa credits this change to the "attentive and nurturing" staff who create a caring and stimulating environment for all of the clients.

"You walk through here and you don't see anyone sitting in the corner with pillows around them just existing," Costa said. "This is an active program to keep an individual active mentally and physically so they can push that nursing home stage further back."

He said the high level of communication makes Adult Day Health a real special place. He said any situation that arises the staff contacts him timely and directly. He said continuity is also important to the staff who act as a resource and provide information to help at home.

Costa urged people who hesitate to sign up for the program, because they feel it represents long-term care, to take another look at Adult Day Health. He said the program is not a nursing home and serves a critical need in the community.

"It's a critical element in this area with an aging population … these are our mother, our fathers, our grandfathers, and our grandmothers," he said. "Here loved ones are taken care of in a real nice tender loving way."

Swanson said Adult Day Health has the capacity for many more clients and wished more people would take advantage of the program.  

"We tend to fly below the radar or people think that we are a clinic or a nursing home, and they don't understand what we do exactly," Swanson said. "There is wealth of what we can do to support patience and the families in the home and it is amazing to me that more people don't know about us because so many people could benefit."

Swanson anyone interested can contact the Brien Center. She said possible clients are welcomed to visit to see if it is something they would like. 

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