SAN CLEMENTE : Health Care Center Gets Much Better

Carol Quintana is moving up in the world along with her colleagues at the Adult Day Health Care Center of South Orange County.

After spending nine years in a cramped, downtown San Clemente facility, operators of the nonprofit center will soon move into a spacious, $1.3-million building on a hilltop site with a sweeping ocean view. Construction begins next month.

“Everything fell into place so beautifully that I really think it was meant to be,” program director Quintana said Friday from her tiny office in a corner of the activities room.

Adult day health care offers an affordable way to maintain medical services that range from treating flu to ongoing therapy for seniors whose mental and physical well-being is threatened by aging, Quintana said.

Because government officials consider these programs to be cost-effective, she said, the San Clemente center was able to land $956,000 from a state-funded bond to buy land and construct a new building that will more than double the size of its existing 3,000-square-foot facility.

The new building will be located next to St. Andrews By The Sea Methodist Church, which sold the 1.2-acre property for $400,000.

The bond, which was guaranteed through sponsorship of the San Clemente City Council, will be repayed via a monthly $7,700 lease. Once the bond is paid, the city will own a deed to the land, and will then lease the 8,000-square-foot building to the health care center for a nominal fee, Quintana said.

An additional $350,000 needed to complete construction of the center is being raised through a campaign for private donations.

“This is like a dream come true,” said Adrienne White, a former full-time nurse at the center who is now part of an extensive volunteer support staff. “This is a love center. It’s what living is all about, reaching out and helping others learn with each step of life.”

As she spoke, a group of senior citizens sat in a semicircle in the activities room and discussed current events as a staffer read aloud from the morning newspaper.

About 15 minutes earlier, the same room was the site of a 30-minute armchair exercise class that uses a series of finger, arm and leg movements to strengthen the fragile joints of patients, many of whom use wheelchairs.

In an adjacent therapy area, four-year patient Ken Soderquist of Laguna Niguel practiced walking with his cane. A stroke victim, Soderquist, 77, said he recently was able to move out of his son’s San Clemente home into his own two-bedroom house as a result of therapy he received at the center.

Like many of the center’s stroke victims, some as young as 35, Soderquist was given muscular rehabilitation, speech therapy and occupational therapy, which helps the disabled relearn everyday functions such as dressing, eating and cooking.

And because the clinic is nonprofit, the highest price a private patient would pay for these services is $46 per day, which includes a special van that transports them to and from their homes, and a hot lunch, Quintana said.

The San Clemente operation covers the largest geographic area of four such centers in Orange County, serving residents between Oso Parkway and the San Diego County line. Each month, it admits an average of 30 patients, who are screened for eligibility based on their need for medical treatment.

The health care center grew out of a senior citizen day-care center founded 10 years ago under its parent organization, South County Seniors Inc., which oversees senior services between Mission Viejo and San Clemente. Using a $65,000 grant made possible through the Older Americans Act, the center was converted to health care in 1981 and became self-supporting the following year on what is now a $350,000 annual budget.