Clients ask county to keep adult medical day care

Friday, March 27, 2009

Licensed for 48 people, the program serves those who would qualify to live in a nursing home, but are still cared for at home by loved ones. The clients come to the center during the workday, picked up by St. Mary's Transit buses.

However, the average number of clients doesn't bring in revenue to cover operating costs.

Although payments from insurance companies and federal programs are intended to cover costs, the adult day care center is expected to need a taxpayer subsidy of more than $600,000 for fiscal 2010. The commissioners agreed this month to supply $350,000 to keep it running while seeking a private entity to take it over.

Georgia Nelson of Clements said her brother had Down syndrome and then developed Alzheimer's disease. He attends the Ripple Center where his mind is kept active, she said.

"A nursing home is a place to maintain life," she said. "The Ripple Center is a place to go to have a life and activity."

The St. Mary's County Department of Aging runs the program and has been trying to get more participation to help cover operating costs. Nelson suggested that county government branch out to advertise the program at waiting rooms of doctor's offices and medical centers.

Wheelchair-bound, Vicki Brown of Avenue attends the Ripple Center and is a member of the commission for people with disabilities.

She said, "We just don't sit, look out the windows at the birds. We have a very active life there."

For some clients it is the only outlet for social activity. "It would be a shame to let the center be closed. There's a lot of people counting on it."

While there is a vacancy for the registered nurse there, the center has been using substitute nurses, Lori Jennings-Harris, director of the department of aging, told the commissioners last week.

Brown complimented the nursing assistants — "they make you feel very safe and comfortable."

Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D) told her the county government would explore every avenue before closing the Ripple Center.

At a discussion of the program last week, Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D) said, "Somewhere along the way we're going to have to find efficiencies in the program. I'm not sure what the answer is."

The commissioners agreed to solicit interest from agencies outside county government to take on the operations.

The year 2010 would be used to see if the department of aging could get the program's finances under control, County Administrator John Savich said then.

"That's what we said last year," Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D) said.

"I understand," Savich said. "It's going to take something more serious."

This budget year, the program needed a $448,735 subsidy and $255,801 the year before that.

Four STS buses are used exclusively to pick up the program's clients at a cost of more than $200,000 a year. There is $225,000 budgeted for transportation for the program for fiscal 2010.

jbabcock@somdnews.com