NORFOLK, Va. — For some families, protecting the elderly requires constant supervision, however, nursing homes can be very expensive. Through adult day cares, daytime supervision is provided at a more affordable rate.
A top priority for both types of senior centers is often health, a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years later, illness prevention has remained very important, but preventative measures can cost centers a lot of money.
On Wednesday, News 3 spoke with Prime Plus Senior Center in Norfolk. The center provides a healthy outlet for folks 45 and older who need supervision. A handful of their participants are living with Dementia and Alzheimer's.
Bob Batcher, the executive director, said, part of the center's mission is to remind their elderly community of the good ole days.
"We try to work with them as they were prior to their journey of dementia or Alzheimer's or traumatic brain injury that they are Ralph and Tim and Alice. They're people," says Batcher.
Monday through Friday the center provides an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. routine for each participant. Every day they're paired up with a caregiver from their center or one from home.
Caregiver Tammy Doster said she was influenced to live a life of service through her mom who passed away from ovarian cancer.
"She's my main reason I came into this because she always used to tell me I took such good care of her, and she encouraged me to keep doing that for other people," Doster said.
Doster said the center closed its doors for a while due to COVID-19. But during that time, she says the love and care employees like her had wasn't limited to in-person interaction.
"I took it upon myself to always call the families still when we knew we were closing down for COVID," Doster said. "I would take numbers home with me and I would call home and let the family know we are still here and that things are going to be ok, and we will be back open soon."
According to the senior center, the cost of protecting their vulnerable population from the spread of illness while keeping the lights on was adding up.
"I think a lot of us take things for granted. Usually, when you come into a facility, they're going to take your temperature. Well, somebody needed to buy those thermostats and there's a cost to doing that kind of thing," Batcher said.
LeadingAge Virginia, a statewide association of nonprofit providers of aging services, recently got $150,000 in federal funding through a grant from the CDC. It'll go toward developing infection control policies for adult day cares. This means centers like Prime Plus Senior Center can go back to putting 100% of their focus on providing the care on which families and their loved ones depend.
