Adult Day celebrates Adult Day Week
Sep. 27—PORTSMOUTH It was a week of celebration for USSA Adult Day Care members as it celebrated Adult Day week.
During the week of Sept. 19 through Sept. 25, Adult Day centers across the country celebrate the week by hosting engaging events for their members and staff. Adult Day week has been celebrated annually since it was proclaimed Sept. 27, 1983, by former President Ronald Reagan. The third complete week of September is set aside to raise awareness of the availability and accessibility of Adult Day programs nationwide.
"We are proud to be here," Adult Day Coordinator Jamie Williams said. "We have been here for 23 years and are the only Adult Day within Scioto County that is specifically for senior citizens."
In honor of Adult Day week, Scioto County Adult Day members held special events throughout the week, including making root beer floats, a pizza party, celebrating the first day of fall and other events to make the week special for everyone who attends the center. The USSA Adult Day Care follows a social model, which focuses on doing activities to keep clients mentally and physically stimulated while providing respite for the families.
"Our program is all about keeping them active in a safe environment," Williams said.
Ernette Riggs, whose mother attended USSA Adult Day Care before she died, was an active member at Adult Day. Riggs shared her experiences with Adult Day and how it helped her mother and her whole family.
"She absolutely loved it," Riggs said. "This place gave her a purpose. She came here and felt like she was part of a family. She even helped the ladies here."
Riggs shared her family's experience with Adult Day was nothing but positive. Riggs said Williams always had activities prepared for members to do, including creating hats, celebrating holidays, setting up indoor fairs and more.
"This gave her a purpose for getting up every morning," Riggs said. "Not only did it give my mother something to do, but it also gave me time to be away. At the time, I was working off and on, and without Adult Day, that wouldn't have been possible."
Although the center is open, it has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. When the surge of COVID started, the center did have to shut down until they came up with a program where a staff member would go to a member's home. Since then, the center has reopened its doors and is serving the community at a limited capacity.
"This is such an asset to this community," Riggs said. "I am glad to see them doing what they do and helping the community."
While some services have been scaled back due to the pandemic, Williams shared that they have found ways around the pandemic by using technology.
"We used to have providers come in and teach music and exercise and things like that," Williams said. "Now we use technology like YouTube to travel around the world or play music to engage the clients."
Adult Day Care is connected to the Senior Center and works together to provide services to clients. Adult Day is located at 121 Market Street in downtown Portsmouth. For those interested in Adult Day, contact Williams at (740)-354-3661.
"We do have a waiting list, but we are hoping one of these days we will be able to get back to full capacity when it is safe to do so," Williams said.
Reach Adam Black at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1927, or by email at ablack@aimmediamidwest.com.
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