ANAHEIM : Giving VIP Treatment to Seniors

During a group discussion at the Anaheim VIP Adult Day Health Care Center, 82-year-old Charles Bartu was asked when he is happiest.

“When I’m here,” Bartu replied.

A retired Cal State Fullerton custodial supervisor, Bartu lives in an Anaheim board-and-care facility and is brought to the center each weekday. Founded in 1988, Anaheim VIP is one of four Orange County adult day health care centers, which serve the daytime needs of seniors who live with relatives or in boarding homes.

“There are only four or five other people where I live and all they ever want to do is go to bed,” Bartu said. “They don’t talk. It gets pretty lonely. I always like having lots of people around and there are a lot of nice ones here.”

To those too ill or dependent to be left alone or taken to a traditional senior center, Anaheim VIP adds a measure of independence to otherwise restricted lives, officials there said.

“We keep people out of convalescent hospitals,” said Shirleen Jones, the program’s director. “These are people who are not capable of living independent lives. They don’t drive anymore. Most need the periodic care of a nurse. A few have some degree of Alzheimer’s.”

The center, which is owned by the nonprofit Feedback Foundation, has a staff of eight to look after 35 “participants,” who are charged up to $50 a day, based upon their ability to pay, with some fees paid by Medi-Cal.

The only restriction is that participants not be chronically bedridden. Included on the staff are two nurses, a social worker and a physical therapist, plus aides who speak Spanish and Korean. A doctor visits twice a month.

VIP’s first participants begin to arrive at 8 a.m. on weekdays.

Upon arrival, they are served a light breakfast. A nurse checks their blood pressure and asks if they are having any pain. Many participants gather to talk or work jigsaw puzzles, while others take to lounge chairs to read a newspaper.

Dee Morgan, an 81-year-old retired insurance office supervisor, said she began coming to the center so she would have something to do every day.

“A lot of times my daughter says, ‘You’re not feeling well, you shouldn’t go today,’ ” Morgan said. “I just say, ‘Why not?’ and they bring me here.”

Michael Sagall, a Fullerton business machine distributor, said he began bringing his 69-year-old mother, Frances, to the center about six months ago. She has been partially paralyzed since suffering a stroke two years ago, and he was unhappy with the three convalescent hospitals he tried before bringing her home. He now takes her to the center daily while he and his brother are at work.

“One of the options is to leave her at home, but she might fall and I’m not to eager to take that chance,” he said. “Another is to hire somebody to come look after her, but then the only contact she would have all day would be with that person, and somebody as intellectually vigorous as my mother needs more than that. That leaves day care, but the supply doesn’t come close to meeting the demand. But this is a quality place.”

Throughout the day, participants who need physical therapy are taken to the center’s gym, where therapist Patricia True has them ride stationary bicycles and do other exercises.

All take part in morning stretching exercises and group discussions. Lunch is served at noon, and the afternoon is spent on activities such as cooking classes, arts and crafts, spelling bees, travel lectures and occasional field trips.

“Depression is the largest undiagnosed ailment of the elderly and we try to address that situation by giving them something to do which they can enjoy,” Jones said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of listening to them, because sometimes nobody else does.”