Your Questions About Adult Day Care Answered

My first exposure to adult day care was while on one of my daily visits to the nursing home where my dad, mom and my mother-in-law all resided. I was fetching something from the kitchen for one of my elders when I ran into one of our city commissioners who had a mother living at the home. The woman was a nurse by profession, but as we visited, she told me that she was going to start an adult day care. I thought that was a great idea. To the best of my knowledge at the time, we didn't have such a place here in our metro area. I've since learned that one of the nursing homes had started one earlier.

Anyway, the whole concept came too late for me and my elders. Several years later, when I met the woman again, I asked her how her venture had gone. She said the day care had failed. She was, as she put it, before her time. The woman then bought a franchise of a widely known in-home care agency and has run that ever since.

Adult day care is now thriving in my metro area, and has many incarnations. I think that's excellent, in that one size doesn't fit all when it comes to elders' needs.

Here, I'll answer here some of the most frequently asked questions I've received about this useful option for caregivers.

Q. What are the different options available in adult day care?

A. Not every city has a lot of options, but there seem to be three major types.

    1. Free standing: This kind of adult day care (or adult day service, which I prefer to call it) is not connected with a nursing home or assisted living. The one in my area, in fact, is more like a health club. It's very new, and is expecting to be caring (sadly) for many Iraq War veterans who have suffered brain injuries. Because of this, they are very high tech. They have computers that can be used by blinking one's eyes. They have many types of fitness devices and a wheelchair accessible sauna. They even have a game that resembles pool, but can be played by those who can't use their arms. They, of course, have a couple of Wii systems. In fact Wii bowling is so popular that they've started a league.

   2. Connected to a nursing home or assisted living center: This option is preferred by many who know their elder will transition into nursing care. The family and the elder get to know the staff at the home, as well as the physical plant. We have several good ones in our area, each with a little different personality. So, as always, it's good to tour several. One of my favorites has a child day care in the same building. The outstanding administrator of this home makes a point of knowing all the day care people by name, and visits daily. The woman who runs it is a natural. I knew her when she was a CNA at the nursing home. She is the one who pushed for a day care at the facility. When I visited, I saw happy people baking in the kitchen, others playing cards and some using exercise equipment in the physical therapy room, as the therapists were gone and the room was open. There were a couple of ladies who like to sit and watch videos in the charming sitting room (television isn't allowed as it's too hard to control the content).