Fit And Fulfilled Adult Day Care Gives Senior Citizens Chance To Live At Home Independently, And Get The Medical Attention To Stay…Fit And Fulfilled

Bill Burrough stands tall and straight. He’s surrounded by a sturdy oak frame that holds him upright, giving him a break from his wheelchair. He carefully clips colored clothespins onto wooden dowels.

He chats with others in the day room of Holy Family Adult Day Health, teasing the staff while finishing the dexterity exercise designed to restore strength to his arm weakened by a stroke last year.

A few minutes later, he’s back in his wheelchair, rolling down the corridor toward a fitness class. He stretches, bends and flexes with the rest of the group.

“If I didn’t come here, I’d be sitting at home in my room, feeling sorry for myself,” said Burrough, 84, a retired traveling salesman for a wholesale drug company. He’s lived in Spokane since 1919.

Exercise, friends and a change of environment are all reasons clients come to the adult day care on the North Side.

The goal of the program is to offer patients mental and physical stimulation and age-appropriate activities. As the population ages and families try to find gentler alternatives to institutional settings, the demand for adult day care will escalate, experts say.

“Most people dread long-term care,” said Marie Raschko, director of Adult Day Health.

Instead, at the Holy Family program, participants thrive. The routine starts most mornings in the main room with “sip and chat.” Cheery yellow daffodils decorate each table; cups of coffee are poured. Conversation includes updates about what’s happening at the center and in the news.

Then the participants move to different rooms for crafts, exercise or Bible study. Restroom breaks are scheduled. There’s a hot lunch waiting at noon.

The center fills a gap for seniors who are too frail or disoriented to participate in community senior centers but not ready for a nursing home. It allows seniors to stay in their own homes longer and maintain their independence.

It also offers caregivers a break from their around-the-clock responsibilities. The center sponsors caregiver support groups to help adult children and spouses cope with the failing health of their family member.

The citywide program, which also has centers on the South Side and in the Valley, has grown from 198 clients to 295 in the last three years.

Clients range from age 50 to 99. Most live in their own homes with a husband, wife or adult children.

In many ways, adult day care isn’t much different from child day care.

“There are more similarities than you would think,” said Raschko.

Although clients are more likely to roll in wheelchairs than skip with unbridled energy like the younger set, many of the needs and activities are the same.

The North Side center fills the main floor of the old St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School. Some clients just say they’re going to “school.

Seniors are offered a range of professional services including nursing care, and recreational and physical therapy. Their health, medications and blood pressure are monitored.

An average of 55 clients are at the North Side center each day, along with 14 staff members including nurses and therapists.

If clients have questions about medication or concerns about their health, they can talk to staff.

“We can catch some problems early, before they turn into a full-blown crisis,” said Raschko.

Adult Day Health lets Burrough stay home with his wife, Grace, but also gives her a break from her role as caregiver.

“He’s really happy with it. He looks forward to it,” Grace Burrough said. “He goes and when he comes home, he’s happy.

“When he’s there, I can go grocery shopping, or out. It makes me feel good,” she added.

At the North Side center, a third of the clients have some form of dementia, including Alzheimer’s.

A separate classroom, called the “quiet room” is set aside for them. One woman hums and smiles constantly. Another holds a baby on her lap, picking it up now and then to gaze at its face.

Natalie Buchberger, one of the activity assistants, tosses a beach ball to each one in turn.

Later, the group talks and shares memories. This time, they talk about hanging clothes on the clothesline, before dryers were routinely used.

Lillian Head, 74, has been coming to the center for almost a year.

“I was thoroughly against it at first,” she said. “I was frightened, I think.

“Now I enjoy it, it gets me out of the house. I like the exercise, it helps my arthritis. And I play bingo,” she said. “I like the people here, and I like the staff, there’s nothing like them.”

Head came to Spokane in 1945 from Massachusetts. Some of her best memories are of dancing to big band music and swimming at the local pool - boys swam one day, girls the next. She still likes being active.

“At our age it’s easy to sit and read a book rather than get any exercise,” she said.

Activities at the center - whether it’s painting, tossing a ball or pedaling a stationary bike - are designed to give clients a sense of accomplishment and success.

“They have enough challenges in life,” said Raschko.

Nellie Gustafson, 73, has been a regular at the center for 10 years.

“My husband figured I needed to get out more,” she said. “I have so many friends here; all the people are marvelous.”

Throughout her life she has memorized poems. She estimates that she knows 150 different poems, all the verses.

“I started when I was just a little kid, ” she said, She begins reciting “The Owl and the Pussycat.” Her eyes light up, her face fills with expression; each word of the poem is given the right amount of emphasis.

Then she moves on. It’s time for Bible study, she doesn’t want to be late.

The day-care program opened in 1976. Although it’s not run by Holy Family Hospital, it falls under the same Dominican Network as the North Side hospital. It’s one of about 30 adult day health-care programs statewide.

Fees for the program are determined on a case-by-case basis. Full price is $40 per day. Most clients come to the center two or three days a week.

It’s a dramatic savings from the $3,000 a month charged by nursing homes.

There are about 50,000 Spokane County residents 65 or older. The center works with the state Agency on Aging and Long-Term Care of Eastern Washington to tap into state money available for seniors.

“It’s a well-kept secret,” said Marie Raschko. “I don’t think people pay attention to services that are available until there is a crisis. “

Burrough is glad he was let in on the secret.

“This is a good place,” he said.

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