Adult Day Care

Most adult day care in the community is based on a medical model and provides assistance in many ways, from some personal care to ensuring that the senior receives his or her medications on time. Adult Day Care Centers usually have a well-developed program of activities and are well staffed. Usually lunch is served and sometimes snacks. There may even be rest times for attendees of full-time day care. Some LTC (long-term care or nursing home) facilities provide adult day care and provide more extensive services such as bathing assistance, medical care, etc.

Several years ago, the Brookdale Foundation provided seed Adult day care is a huge help to families who are trying to keep loved ones with Alzheimer's or short-term memory loss at home. money to start ½ day Adult Day Care based on a social model. Check in your area to see if there is one nearby. The goal is to provide respite time for the caregiver and to put the participant in a socially stimulating environment. Initially, there were only 50 sites around the country but the number continues to grow. In many cases, the family is able to continue to care for their special person at home with this type of community help.

Many communities have intergenerational adult day care and childcare together. This works for the benefit of both groups and often provides a nice variety of joint activities and separate activities for each group. Both groups benefit from the interactions and the stimulation of socialization. They may even offer extended hours that might fit in with your working schedule.

You can contact your local senior resources, Senior Centers, Area Agencies on Aging, etc., to find out what is available in your area. I also suggest you check out your local yellow pages for adult day care facilities in your area. Below are some hyperlinks to sites that might be helpful.