In the Center : Balancing the Needs of Body and Soul Is Part of the Routine at the Adult Day Care Facility in Orange, Where Workers Mind Their Elders

ORANGE —  Hazel Dunning talks freely about why she left her Florida home and moved in with her daughter in Orange several years ago.

“I couldn’t take care of myself,” Dunning said. “Old age, I guess.”

Dunning’s daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Vic Hill, don’t feel that they can comfortably leave the 77-year-old woman alone while they work, shop and conduct their lives.

So four times a week, Dunning spends the day at the Orange Adult Day Care Center, a nonprofit facility set up in 1986 to aid families that wish to keep elderly relatives living in a private home setting as long as possible.

The day-care center, one of 14 such facilities in Orange County, provides a place for the senior citizens to spend the day in a supervised setting.

“After a spouse dies, children often take the surviving parent in to live with them,” said Mary Morick, the center’s assistant director. “If (the children) work, they have to bring their parent somewhere.

“We prolong the time they can stay at home.”

The majority of the center’s participants suffer from such diseases as Alzheimer’s, senile dementia or the after-effects of strokes, said Sonia Garcia, the center’s director.

The center, at 1250 E. Heim Ave., is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. It is licensed by the state to provide care for up to 40 people but only has 21 clients. There is one staffer for every five senior citizens utilizing the center, Garcia said, including special activity coordinators and recreational assistants.

For $27 a day, the clients are provided with a hot, nutritious lunch as well as at least two snacks.

But more important, the center provides the senior citizens with friends, activities and a place to go every day. There’s an exercise period designed to keep them in good physical shape, arts-and-crafts sessions, many hours spent on dominoes, cards, board games and puzzles, and group sing-alongs.

“They really like singing ‘Working on the Railroad’ and ‘Peg of My Heart,’ ” Morick said.

There’s also a daily current-events session to help keep them aware of the world around them.

Moreover, there are also field trips to local parks, malls and other senior citizen facilities.

“The program is designed to provide social, emotional and mental stimulation to the participants,” Garcia said.

And the center staff tries to make sure the activities don’t seem pointless. For example, crafts made by the clients are donated to local hospitals, shelters or to homebound senior citizens. Recently, the participants designed quilts that were given to a shelter for abused children.

“It’s not a waste of time,” Garcia said. “The seniors feel they are doing something useful.”

The senior citizens at the center say coming in almost every day keeps them active.

“I have something to do here,” said Vicenti Triviso, 80, a former truck driver from New Mexico who moved in with his daughter in Anaheim several years ago after he could no longer take care of himself. “Otherwise I’d be all by myself somewhere.

“I like it here. I meet nice people, and I get to do exercises and stuff.”

Dunning also said she enjoys the companionship the center offers.

“It makes the time go faster,” Dunning said. “I haven’t got so many friends anymore.”

Her family firmly believes that the center has helped keep Dunning active and interested in what is going on around her.

“I feel in my heart Hazel would be withering and dying if it wasn’t for the center,” Vic Hill said. “It would be a lonely existence for her.”

And the elderly are not alone at the center. There are frequent visitors, including the preschool classes from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church next door that visit their older neighbors several times a month.

“We call them all grandmas and grandpas,” said preschool teacher Julene Hessler. “At the beginning, (the children) were apprehensive, but now they touch their faces and give hugs and kisses.”

Dunning said she likes the children to visit because they remind her of her own grandchildren.

“I like having young people around me,” Dunning said.

And the children reciprocate.

“They like me and I like them because they are my friends,” said Kristi Wagerly, 3. “They always make cookies, and I help them.”