Picus Proposes Day-Care Center for Young, Elderly : Intergenerational care: The councilwoman’s plan calls for the two groups to meet for meals, recreation and other activities.

Children and the elderly would mingle, enriching each others’ lives by sharing experiences and perspectives, at an “intergenerational day-care center” in the west San Fernando Valley that would be part of a package of care measures for senior citizens proposed Monday by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus.

“Just as child care was the important issue of the 1980s, elder care is going to be the important issue of the ‘90s,” Picus told a news conference, noting the growing number of elderly Americans.

The centerpiece of Picus’ program, the intergenerational center, would not be a city institution, but would be run in cooperation with the Valley Senior Service and Resource Center, a private group in Reseda, Picus said. It is expected to begin operation by the end of next year, with funding expected to come from charitable organizations, state and federal funds, and fund-raising efforts, Picus said.

“It will be the first of its kind in Los Angeles and it will carve new roads in the care of seniors,” Picus said.

The value of the center will lie in the interaction between children, who will come from lower-income families, and the elderly, she said.

The center is still in the planning stages, but Picus aide Jackie Brainard said the program would most likely be run by a partnership between a nonprofit organization expert in caring for elderly adults and another experienced in working with preschool children.

The center would function on two levels. Elderly enrolled in the center would participate in activities similar to those at other senior citizen centers, and children would have a typical preschool program. But two or three times during the day, the two groups would come together to share meals, recreation and other organized activities.

“That’s what’s supposed to really enrich the lives of both,” Picus said. “Children who are on the site will essentially have grandparents helping them enjoy life during the day, and the seniors will get renewed vigor and enjoyment in life as they are around the young children.”

In another measure aimed at senior citizen care, Picus said she will introduce an ordinance in the City Council today that would allow for licensed in-home day care for the elderly, patterned after home day-care centers for children. Such centers would increase the quantity and quality of elder-care facilities and provide families with an alternative for elderly members who are too healthy for a nursing home but too ill to be left alone during the day, she said.

In addition, the ordinance would allow city employees to donate vacation or personal-leave days for use by co-workers who need to care for an ailing family member and would set up a hot line providing elder-care information.

Brainard said there are about half a dozen intergenerational care centers in the United States. The West Valley center will be modeled after a similar center run by the Stride Rite shoe company, which was opened earlier this year for employees at its corporate headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., Picus said.

But the Stride Rite center is a rare move by business, she said. Picus and other elder-care advocates maintain that businesses lose $15 billion a year because of a failure to address the need for elder care in their policies and employee benefits packages.

Workers must take time off--often unpaid--to care for relatives, and the stress and emotional drain of caring for ailing relatives decreases worker productivity, Picus said.

The burden of care falls most often on women workers, she said. “Many very capable, experienced women are forced to leave the work force in order to care for their relatives, so that we lose dependable well-trained people,” Picus said. “Providing for our aging relatives is vitally important to the work force today.”