After more than a year of construction, Community Bridges cut the ribbon on its newly relocated Elderday Adult Day Health Care center, which offers a host of medical, social and nutritional services for older adults and people with disabilities.
The addition adjacent to Community Bridges’ Watsonville Headquarters at 519 Main St. “signifies the profound impact of both the sustainability of the program, and the health and wellbeing of our beloved older adults in our entire Central Coast,” said CEO Raymon Cancino.
“Our unwavering commitment to the wellbeing of vulnerable adults, and our mission to help our citizens live comfortably in their own home has been a cornerstone of our work,” he said.
The facility, Cancino said, has since its inception in 1981 provided services for seniors such as nursing, physical and occupational therapy, nutritious meals and the “invaluable gift of regular social interaction.”
“Elderday has been a beacon of hope and a lifeline for countless older adults in Santa Cruz County,” Cancino said.
Denise Likar, Deputy Director of California Department on Aging’s Division of Home and Community Living, said that bolstering the state’s infrastructure to help seniors is more important than ever.
“As we look across California at the Department of Aging, we’re planning for 2030, when we will see a population shift when 1 in 4 adults will be over the age of 60,” she said. “We have to get ready to go. No one can do this alone in order to be able to take care of those who need our help.”
The project was funded through a $2.5 million grant from the Central California Alliance for Health, which helped acquire the 12,591-square-foot property. It was previously located on Pioneer Street in Santa Cruz for nearly two decades. Roughly 150 participants currently use the services.
Santa Cruz County has experienced an 80.9% growth in the 65-84 age group since 2010, faster than any other region in California, Community Bridges said in a press release.
More than 11,000 of the county’s approximately 72,000 older adults are eligible for Medi-Cal. Worse, 1 in 5 older adults in Santa Cruz County live in isolation.
Elderday is free for those eligible for Medi-Cal. Costs can also be covered by the Veterans Administration, long-term care insurance, or private pay on a sliding scale. Transportation to the center is provided.
For information, visit communitybridges.org.
So many services that we senior taxpayers pay for but can’t use.
If we pay for it with our state tax money, it should be free for all to use.
The people using this service don’t pay state tax.
It’s just another con job giving freebies to some but charging others who actually paid for it.
So sick of this crap.