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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > MARIN'S ONLY ADULT DAY CARE PROGRAM SAVED
Article published - August 18, 2008
Credit: NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
Marin’s only adult day care program saved
Berkeley's LifeLong absorbs senior access services that had been running red
BY D. ASHLEY FURNESS
MARIN COUNTY – After almost three years operating in the red, the county’s only provider of adult day health care services has at last saved the program, transferring the license and patients over to an East Bay organization.
“Two months ago we weren’t sure if it was going to happen just because we couldn’t find anyone to take it over,” said Cris Chater, executive director for Senior Access, which operated the adult day health care program.
Had LifeLong Medical Care of Berkeley “not stepped in, Marin County would have lost its only adult day care license with no possibility of getting another because of the current moratorium on them. Of the 58 counties in California, only 10 do not have adult day care services, and I don’t think that’s the message Marin wants to send.”
Senior Access of Novato has provided both health-related and non-medical services for more than 30 years and is the county’s primary resource for keeping seniors in a non-institutionalized setting.
But with continued state funding cuts, the company’s medical division has endured public reimbursement rates well below the cost of care, which pays for about 75 percent of the nonprofit’s patients.
Ms. Chater estimated the state provided about $76 per day, per patient, though it cost the center about $140 a day.
In January 2007, the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services hired a consultant to evaluate Senior Access’ financial situation, ultimately deciding the most viable option would be to transfer the services to a federally qualified health center because it receives higher state compensation.
A little less than two years ago, Senior Access began negotiations with Marin’s two health care clinics, Coastal Alliance and Marin Health Care Centers, but neither ended up having the resources to handle to program successfully.
“We see adult day care as one of the key ways to keep disabled folks and elders in their communities as long as possible and stay out of nursing homes,” said Dr. Marty Lynch, executive director and chief executive officer of LifeLong.
“Even though Marin is not our community, they are our neighboring community, and we knew we had the skills and organizational structure to take this on successfully. When we talked to our board, they saw it as an obligation to do this.”
For clients and their families, the change will be mostly invisible, according to the two organizations. LifeLong acquired all of Senior Access’ employees, and services will continue to run out of the day health care center on Novato Boulevard in Novato.
“We will make a few minor repairs and the signs will change, but for the most part there will be very little if any change to the families,” Dr. Lynch said.
Senior Access will continue to provide other, non-medical day care services and actually expand its reach by opening two new sites this year.
The low- to no-cost services include transportation, meals, adult education, light exercise programs, outings to public parks and museums and caregiver support programs. The social services are available five days a week at the WindChime of Marin on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Kentfield.
The two new sites opening at the beginning of September and then on the first of October will be located in the Dance Palace of Point Reyes and at MarinSpace in San Rafael.
Both sites have about 3,000 square feet and will be open just a few days a week to begin with, though Ms. Chater said she expects the San Rafael location to eventually open five or six days a week.
The company kicked off a capital campaign to pay for the expansions recently and has so far raised about a third of the needed $400,000.
“Part of our strategic plan is to have adult day services in every community. Right now, every place has a community center and childcare centers, and we don’t see why every community shouldn’t have a center for its elders, especially in a county where they are the fastest-growing age group,” Ms. Chater said.
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