Adult day care may be coming to Woodbury

The congregation at St. Ambrose Parish in Woodbury didn't need much convincing when a Cerenity Senior Care employee visited to gauge interest in supporting an adult day care program at the site.

"I had people coming up and offering to volunteer," said Sharyl Kaase, Cerenity's director of adult day programs. "People would say 'I'm retired from being a nurse, I'd love to volunteer.' It was really positive."

The Woodbury planning commission votes Monday on a conditional use permit Cerenity needs to convert a church room into a day care for aging adults who struggle living on their own or simply need some social interaction.

If approved, the City Council will vote April 24 on what could become at least the second adult day care in Washington County.

Minnesota is home to 158 adult day care sites, said Lynn Buckley, chair of Minnesota's chapter of the Adult Day Services Association. Oak Park Heights has a similar service in Washington County, Kaase said.

Beginning this summer and during select weekdays, the adult day care at St. Ambrose wants to provide activities that stimulate the mind and body for participants struggling with physical and mental ailments like memory loss caused by dementia or Parkinson's disease.

"There is this misconception that it's a place you take grandma and grandpa and they sit around and play cards all day," Buckley said. "But that's not really it at all."

Two kinds of adult day care services — a medical and a social model — are meant to offer relief for care givers who need to be outside of the house during the day and can't care for their elderly.

The Woodbury site will be a social model: a place for independent elderly, who need minimal medical support, to attend and be among others in similar situations. Kaase said there will not be a nurse or in-house medical equipment at St. Ambrose Parish.

If approved by the city, Kaase will apply to the Minnesota Department of Human Services for a permit that allows 20 people to be in the Woodbury care unit at once. Kaase said up to 40 or 50 families could be involved with the new program, because the permit dictates a 20-person capacity at one given time.

Interested candidates will have to go through a physical and mental assessment to determine if they're proper participants for the type of services the Woodbury care center plans to provide.

"So much depends on the individualized assessment," Cerenity Administrator Jeffrey Thorne said. "We can't use broad based labels of diseases because each person is different in how they manage their ailments."

As the population ages, national demand rises for a system that Buckley said has been around since the late 1970s. There are more than 5,000 sites nationwide that offer day care for adults — most of which tend to the elderly, while the rest aid younger participants with special needs.

Thorne said it's also an alternative method for families who want to prevent their elder relatives from going into nursing homes until it's necessary.

"Adult day service is a huge factor in keeping people at home," Thorne said. "It's an opportunity for them, a respite for their care givers, many times children who still have a career and are working."