County plans to close Annandale Adult Day Care Center

The Annandale Adult Day Care Center, which serves people with mental and physical impairments, most of them in their 80s, could be shut down as the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors struggles to cut costs.

Each county agency was asked to come up with a list of areas where funding could be reduced, and the Annandale center was targeted for elimination because it’s the oldest and smallest of the county’s adult day care centers and enrollment has been dropping, said Shauna Severo, assistant director of patient care services in the Fairfax County Health Department.

 

The center, located in the old Annandale Elementary School building on Columbia Pike, has the capacity to serve 35 clients, but only sees an average of 24 per day.

Families oppose closure

The Fairfax County Adult Day Health Care Association Inc., an organization of primary caregivers for aging relatives, is mounting a campaign to keep the center open.

The group is urging the county to undertake a professional marketing campaign to get the word out about the benefits – to caregivers as well as clients – and the cost effectiveness of retaining the Annandale Center and pledged to contribute $10,000 to support that effort. The group is concerned that the Lincolnia would be too difficult to get to, especially for the elderly spouses of patients. They also worry the county might eliminate the other adult day care centers, too.

The annual budget for the Annandale Center is $522,000, Severo said. If fees paid by clients are taken into account, the next cost for the current year is $338,471. Fees are on a sliding scale based on income and range from $16 to $107 per day – which is less expensive than private assisted living facilities and in-home care.

The Annandale Center is open 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Clients must come at least twice a week, and many come every day, Robinson says.

The centers are open to anyone age 18 or above with physical or mental impairment who can’t be left at home alone without supervision. While some of the centers have clients in their late 30s with intellectual disabilities, Severo said the average age is about 86. 

 Social engagement

For caregivers – usually the adult parents of clients – “the senior centers offer peace of mind,” Severo said. “They can leave for work in the morning knowing their loved one is in a secure setting.” And instead of sitting in front of a TV alone all day, a day at a center offers plenty of opportunities for social engagement.

On a recent day, clients at the Annandale Adult Day Care Center were having a lot of fun playing balloon volleyball. There was a lot of laughter as they sat in chairs arranged in rows and hit a large inflated green ball over a net.

A certified recreation therapist conducts an assessment for each client and develops a series of activities for them based on their interests and capabilities and input from their families, says Jennifer Robinson, manager of the county’s adult day health care program.

“There are lots of exercise sessions to keep them mobile and independent,” she said, and lots of games, like Trivia,Jeopardy, and card games, to boost their cognitive skills. Art therapy and craft projects, like making wall displays out of tissue paper, help with motor skills and socialization, added Karen McKeon, a therapeutic recreation specialist based at the Annandale center.

There are also educational talks about history, nutrition, or other topics; visits by entertainers; visits from pet therapists, who bring dogs for the clients to interact with; opportunities for reminiscing with one another about the old days; and field trips to places like Cox Farm, museums, and swimming pools at local RECenters.

There’s a nurse on site to monitor their health and administer medications. That’s crucial, because the nurses can spot potential health problems early, thus preventing hospitalizations, Robinson said. Clients are served breakfast, lunch, and a snack.

One of the clients at the Annandale Center is a refugee who had to leave her country on a split second, leaving all her belongings behind and doesn’t speak English, Robinson said. She still enjoys many of center’s activities, like balloon volleyball, that don’t require talking.

Other options

If the Annandale center closes, Severo’s staff would look at where the clients live, make recommendations on which alternative centers would best meet the participant’s and family’s needs, and plan transportation for them through the county’s Fastran bus service.

Most of them would probably go to the Lincolnia Adult Day Care Center, which is the closest and is under capacity now. That center has room for 45 people but only serves about 14 a day. The other county centers are in Herndon, Mount Vernon, and McLean.

The reason for the underutilization of the senior centers, despite the growing number of elderly people in the county, is most likely due to the increase of privately run alternatives, Severo said. Those include Inova’s  PACE program; the Agape Adult Day Care Center, which targets the Korean community and is building a new facility on Lincolnia Road; the expanded Insight Memory facility in Fairfax, and the addition of  “memory units” for Alzheimer’s patients in assisted living facilities.

More expensive private options, however, “are not an option for people with limited resources,” Severo acknowledged.

The county’s adult day care centers get high ratings from users. According to a survey of caregivers, center clients sleep better at home, are less confused, have better moods, and are more alert and interested in daily live, Robinson noted.

Many caregivers tell her, “my mother would never go there,” she said. But after coming to a center for a week, the client often asks, “when do I go back to the club, or back to school?” which is how some of them think about the center.