Staff, clients and residents are upset about the upcoming closure of the Santa Clarita Adult Day Health Center.
“My mom has gone there for almost 21 years,” said Cindy Howard, a local resident who depends on the care the day center provides. “We depend on it so I can work and she needs the social interaction. There are many others who do too.”
The center moved in 2011 into the old Bob’s Big Boy restaurant space on Calgrove Boulevard in Newhall.
In a letter sent to clients on Monday, June 1, Michael Chai, the program director at the center, stated that “It is with a heavy heart that I must announce to you today that effective June 30, our center will officially close its doors in the Santa Clarita Valley, with the last day of attendance for the participants and staff on Friday, June 12 2015.”
“The social worker is frantically trying to find places to put over 50 people,” Howard said. “They are thinking they will bus people to a center in Granada Hills.”
The care provided at the center is different for each client, but generally includes meals, medication, physical and occupational therapy and most importantly, social interaction. Howard stresses the importance of keeping as many of the clients together as possible.
“Some of these people have been together for 20 years, this move would split them up from their community,” Howard said. “They play games, dance, listen to music, and even interact with animals.”
The closing of the center came as a shock to employees and clients, said LeeAnn Holmes whose son has attended the center for almost a year.
“I feel the notice could have been longer,” Holmes said. “The change is going to be harder for them than it would be for anyone else.”
The center has been in operation for more than 20 years, according to Howard, but management changed over the last year.
“Due to the overwhelming cost of running the center, the lack of revenue and insufficient funding/support from local and regional entities, the Board of Directors has determined that keeping the center open is no longer viable or financial sustainability,” Chai said in a letter to clients.
He described the last year as “a difficult year of numerous community outreach efforts, insufficient revenues and lack of local support.”
“When I started caring for my mother over 20 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing,” Howard said. “It was only possible to do everything I did with the help of the day care center.”
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21 Comments
this is so sad
This is really sad. Our elder community needs programs like this. They’re wonderful. This is just sad.
That’s the old bobs big boy.
very sad.
Sucks. But if their funding disappeared then I do not blame them for closing. I worked in the non profit sector and sometimes we didn’t have money to make payroll until the day before.
You’ll have to find a new place to hang out Andrew Hernandez..
I’ve done my clinical hours there and the owner had no intentions from the start to keep that place
Not to mention he has 3 other sites (day cares)
Ricardo Torres
Someone’s got to pay for tearing out the 5 miles of 50/50 landscaped /concrete meridians and replacing them with the new 100% landscaping on Soledad Canyon Road.
Wait a minute. Soledad landscaping is not paid for my locals. That’s why some medians like hwy 14 took so long to be done. Notice the new homes going in on Soledad? Well to get a building permit, they have to pay for the median near them. I mean they pay lots. The seniors of which I’m one pay little or nothing to go there and Obama took so much $s out of Medicare, something has to go. If you charged each senior 5-10$s s a day even, they won’t come.
Sorry to hear this news !!
Brianna Williams?
This is very sad for our community! Having the support of this program makes it possible for many families to be able to continue to have their loved ones at home instead of in placement.
This is sad, I have visited and toured this facility, great people. I wonder now what will happen to those who went there every day.
Are these comments from two different articles? I didn’t see anything about landscaping and the day
care center!
Lack of support from Awesome City!! But landscape of medians is REALLY important because it
beautifies the city and uses how much water??
THIS SUCKS!!!
Our country is not supportive of our elderly. When my mom had to move in with us without warning because of her dementia it was the worst. SCV Senior Center is awesome. I discovered they have an adult day care. It was a lifesaver.
Very sad. These programs are very important to the elderly and disabled, not to mention there families that rely on the program so they can keep their loved ones at home instead of instititionalizing them. This valley does not have enough programs, and the ones we do have are full with a waiting list.
?
That location is just cursed!