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adult day club offers alternatives to caregivers

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

When it’s time to get some help with an older parent or spouse, many people don’t want to consider a nursing home because they really don’t need to do that now. They just need some help during the day.

Adult day care provides one alternative some folks have pursued with different conclusions.

At the Garden Club Senior Living Community in Millstadt they call their service Adult Day Club.

“These are adults, and we want them to feel more involved in the social aspects” of living, Tori Salladay, manager of the Millstadt facility, said.

In Millstadt, as well as other Garden Club facilities in Red Bud and Columbia, Adult Day Clubs provide daily activities, supervision and assistance with medication among other services.

The Clubs provide services up to six hours per day, but the person does not live on the premises, Salladay said.
“Our Club members are supported and supervised in a way that promotes dignity, encourages improved self-esteem and offers a structured routine of consistent, stimulating and just plain fun day-to-day events and activities,” Salladay said.
Instead of staying at home alone or without anything to do, Club members interact socially, making new friends, Salladay said.
In two cases so far, people who began with the Club decided they wanted to move in and stay.

Since residents participate in the activities that did not prove to be a problem. Millstadt’s Garden Place now has a waiting list though, so it might take longer to make the transition from the Club to a residence there.

One couple — Georgine and Clarence Sutter — moved in within the last two weeks.

At 86, Georgine said caring for her 89-year-old husband was becoming more difficult than she could manage. With her own health problems, she needed to take care of both herself and her husband.

“This was ideal,” she said while she and her husband participated in a seated exercise program. “The best part is the help and the security” of knowing someone can help immediately if needed.

Salladay said caring for adults in a “day care” setting began to surface in the 1970s. More than 3,500 adult day care facilities operate nationally, according to an internet source.

With the addition of a respite for a caregiver or stimulation for someone who would otherwise be alone, the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s may be slowed, according to some experts.

“We want people to remain independent as long as possible,” Salladay said. “One of the keys is to keep people from feeling isolated and keep them involved in life.”

For more information about the Clubs, please call 476-1440.