Day-Care Center Adjusts to Meet Special Needs of Disabled Elderly

It used to be that 76-year-old Haya Labov rarely left the house.

A victim of Parkinson’s disease, she would often spend the day watching television, too depressed even to get dressed.

Then, in August, Labov enrolled in an innovative day-care center for adults in North Hollywood, and her life changed. She became animated. She couldn’t wait to get up in the morning.

The difference has been “nothing short of incredible,” according to Labov’s daughter-in-law, Linda Labov, who lives in Studio City with her husband and mother-in-law.

‘Incentive to Go Out’

“She has an incentive to go out in the world and get dressed by herself. In the afternoon, she comes home with arts and crafts. It’s like watching a 76-year-old woman go to nursery school,” Labov said.

But, as day-care center personnel point out, arts and crafts are about the only similarity between a nursery school and the Valley Storefront Adult Day Health Care Center, a program run by Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles.

The center, in a converted storefront on Victory Boulevard, offers non-sectarian, medically supervised day care paid for by Medi-Cal or private payment plans. Medi-Cal, the state medical system for the poor and elderly, reimburses the center at an average rate of $32 a day. Patients who do not qualify for Medi-Cal are charged on a sliding scale ranging from $32 to about $50 a day.

There are seven such centers in Los Angeles County, but the North Hollywood storefront is the only one in the San Fernando Valley, according to Dottie Green, geriatric coordinator for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

25 Patients Daily

Most of the center’s patients, which average about 25 a day, are older people, although the center accepts any adult with a physical or mental disability who qualifies under the program’s guidelines, according to Director Sybil Nimoy, a registered nurse.

The program blends medical supervision, rehabilitative therapy, mental and physical stimulation and an often-forgotten ingredient when it comes to the care of older people: friendly attention.

Activities are as varied as the needs of each patient, and include word games and charades.

During the morning, licensed therapists work with patients who require physical, occupational and speech therapy. For others, it’s stretching exercises or “reality orientation,” an activity in which those with failing memory try to identify textures, colors and smells of items such as spice bottles or pieces of fabric.

About 20% of the patients are stroke victims or suffer from mental disabilities such as Alzheimer’s disease, Nimoy said.

At noon, a hot lunch is served. It can be prepared to accommodate special dietary needs, such as kosher meals, Nimoy said.

Volunteers Assist

In the afternoon, some of the center’s 18 volunteers take patients on walks, play games to increase hand-eye coordination and provide a nurturing but stimulating atmosphere for older people.

Center volunteers and staff members refer to their charges as participants, not patients. The main activity room is painted bright pink. Arts and crafts made by patients hang on the wall, alongside poster prints by Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso.

Nimoy said many of the patients would be living in near-isolation or in nursing homes if they were not attending the center, which is open weekdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Eighty-four-year-old Frank Montoya is one member who was formerly in a nursing home. His wife, Anita, an energetic woman who plays the piano during weekly sing-alongs, moved her husband back home early this year when he began attending the center.

Although Montoya suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and doesn’t partake in all activities, the routine is familiar to him and he likes the constant hum of activity at the center, according to his wife.

‘They All Need Love’

“They all need a lot of love and attention, and they get it here,” she said. “I’ve seen an improvement in him,” Anita Montoya said, patting her husband on the shoulder.

Volunteers help, too. One woman donated a home computer programmed to do exercises to help people with memory losses. Another, Sheila Paley of Encino, had planned to work for a short while as a favor to Nimoy when the center opened in February. Eight months later, Paley is still working.

Paley said she doesn’t believe that everyone who volunteers does it only to help others. “They also get something out of it,” she said. “These people appreciate everything you do for them. Their smiles light up the whole day.”

Take Anita Batt, for instance. Today, she smiles a lot. But a year ago, after her husband died, something shriveled up inside the 55-year-old woman, and she wouldn’t leave the house for months, she said. In an attempt to bring her out of her isolation, Batt’s doctor suggested she try the center. At first she demurred, but the doctor insisted.

“It brought me back to life. These people really care about me,” she said.

“You know, I have kids, and they’re good to me, but I don’t want to be a burden on them. This gives me something to do.”

Indeed, Batt’s fear of burdening her children was echoed by several patients during a recent visit. At home with their families, or in their small apartments, these elderly people feel dependent on their children, they said. But at the center, with their peers, they feel independent, they feel they have a life of their own, one woman said proudly.

The center also fosters this independence as much as possible. For those without transportation, there are vans that pick up and drop off patients. In case of emergency, the center contacts the patient’s personal doctor first instead of the family, Nimoy said.

During a recent Jewish holiday, when the center was closed for several days, Mort Allison found out just how much it meant to his father, George, who attends four times a week.

Allison said he watched the 85-year-old man grow depressed as he realized that he would miss two days of activities.

“He literally sat and stared; I didn’t know how to cheer him up,” Mort Allison said.

“When he stays around the house all day, he gets morose. On the days he goes, he comes back very happy.”