An Alzheimer’s’s Day Care that operates Monday, Wednesday and
Fridays at the Jovenes de Antano senior center in Hollister will
stop services at the end of December due to a cut to the state
funding for such programs.
An Alzheimer’s’s Day Care that operates Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at the Jovenes de Antano senior center in Hollister will stop services at the end of December due to a cut to the state funding for such programs.
“We were able to extend the service through December,” said Pauline Valdivia, the director of Jovenes de Antano and a Hollister city councilwoman. “There is no other program in the county that provides respite for the families [like this.]”
The day care program is licensed to work with 12 patients, and for more than 10 years has been open to patients of Alzheimer’s or types of dementia that cause memory loss whose families chose to be the primary caretakers.
Stephanie Correia’s father has attended the Day Care program for at least three years.
“It’s been a real life-saver,” Correia said. “It’s a benefit to both my father and my mother. It gives her free time. Three days a week he is gone from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and it gives my father additional mental stimulation and social interaction. He looks forward to going.”
Correia visited one of the sessions at the day care a few years back.
“I could tell they really enjoyed what they were doing, both the staff and the participants,” she said. “My mother is extremely disappointed that the day care is closing.”
Valdivia explained that the program was started with just $60,000 a year and went up to $80,000. In recent years, the program has seen steady funding cuts from the state.
For the full story see the Pinnacle on Friday.
