Adult Day Care, A Partial Solution to a Worrisome Problem
Note: DayBreak Adult Day Services has moved to Kansas City, KS and is now known as Southview Adult Day Services. For listings of Adult Day Services in the area please see the Senior Directory on this website.
Mary Ann Nagel has a good time on Tuesdays and Fridays at Daybreak Adult Day Services. She sings, dances, participates in games using her mind and others that exercise her body. Mostly she loves to paint. “I could do it all day,” she says laughing, “but there’s always the house and kids to take care of.”
Watching Mary Ann make strokes with her watercolor brush I can get just a glimpse of the talented artist she once was. “She has a Fine Arts Degree from the University of Kansas,” says her husband, Jack. “Painting and sculpture were her specialties. She also co-authored a book published by Standard Publishing on Sunday School for children.” The mother of a daughter and son (and grandmother of four) life and retirement looked good for Mary Ann.
She had worked at KMOX Radio in St. Louis and for Johnson County Park and Recreation here in Johnson County.
Then the memory problems started in 1999. Mary Ann remembers working in her father’s St. Louis grocery store—but she can no longer remember the details of daily life. It’s not safe for her to be alone for long periods. “She’s so cheerful, so easy to take care of,” says Jack, “but it’s hard, too. I really miss the highly functioning woman who has been my wife for so many years.”
A partial solution for Jack and Mary Ann is DayBreak, an adult day care center that operates in Southminster Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village. On Tuesdays and Fridays, Jack can take Mary Ann there and rest easy that she’ll have a good time; that she’ll be busy with appropriate activities, get a good lunch and snacks and be treated with love and respect. She’ll find 15-18 friends with whom to spend the day.
“They don’t know each other, really,” says DayBreak Director Cookie Ernst, “but they recognize this as a pleasant, familiar setting. They take care of each other in their own ways. It’s generally a happy place.”
DayBreak is open from 7:30 to 5:30 Monday through Friday. Transportation isn’t provided but can be arranged. A normal day runs something like this:
- Welcome, coffee, social time, individual activities or projects
- Daily Devotion with a non-denominational theme and prayer—followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a patriotic song
- Morning snack
- Morning stretch to music
- Group activity
- Lunch
- Relaxation—to soft music, dim lights, lotion and aroma therapies, etc
- Work games
- Activities
Often volunteers come to share their music and other talents with the participants. A staff of three keeps things moving smoothly and takes special care of each person. Minnie Nunley has worked with seniors at DayBreak for eight years. She’s a mover and shaker who gets everyone involved. Mary Jackson has only worked there for a few months, but she drives in from Paola every day, “So you know I must love it her to do that,” she laughs. There is also an enclosed court yard for some outside activities when the weather permits. Participants range in age from 42-99.
To the normal adult mind this concept may seem almost obscene, but DayBreak is a lot like a very well run day care for children—the participants just have older bodies. For 11 years, DayBreak has been filling an important slot for families caring for a loved one with memory problems. It is certainly not alone in meeting this crucial need. There are other stand-alone facilities, and many of the assisted living facilities offer day care as well. A dozen or so day care programs are listed in the latest Human Services and Aging Senior Directory.
Basically adult day care provides social and some rehabilitative activities for the frail or cognitively impaired person during the day. It is, of course, not appropriate for someone who needs 24-hour-a-day care.
At DayBreak the daily rate is $60, and the half-day rate is $43 (four hours or less). If a participant attends five full days per week, there is a reduced fee of $54 per day for the month (or a half-day rate of $38. There are other rate adjustments for various time commitments.
Jack and Mary Ann Nagel can live a happier life together because they can take advantage of DayBreak’s senior-friendly services. Mary Ann gets social, mental and physical stimulation that she wouldn’t have just staying at home. Jack gets two days he can count on to do what he needs to do for himself. “It’s not the way we planned our retirement,” he says, and a bit of sadness shows in his eyes. “But we’re a lot better off than some other people we know coping with the same problems.”
Human Services & Aging
11811 S. Sunset Drive, Suite #1300
Olathe, KS 66061-7056
(913) 715-8800 : voice
(913) 715-8825 : fax
(913) 894-8822 : TTY
E-mail