Senior Center to open in The Warehouse

The CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Senior Center will reopen Aug. 13 in a temporary location at The Warehouse, 301 Broadway St., while a new, permanent location is being planned, CHI St. Vincent announced Monday.

The Warehouse site will be open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch is scheduled between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Classes being held in other temporary locations during recent weeks will now move to The Warehouse site.

“This is a great opportunity for senior citizens in Garland County to gather and reunite as we continue to make progress and improve options for our community,” Diane Harry, senior services director for CHI St. Vincent, said in a news release.

“By housing all of our temporarily relocated classes at one central location, we’re glad to be

able to bring our membership back together,” Harry said.

Schedules of class times and dates are available by calling 6240838.

To access the new, temporary location, center patrons should enter The Warehouse at the back of the building.

CHI St. Vincent announced in March that the Hot Springs Senior Center had temporarily closed until it could be relocated from the old Hot Springs National Guard Armory at 210 Woodbine St., where a leaky roof had led to mold problems.

Garland County owns the Armory building and was leasing it to the hospital for $1 a year, according to a December 2001 lease agreement.

The 2001 lease with Mercy Hospital, now CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, made the hospital responsible for maintenance. County Judge Rick Davis told the Garland County Quorum Court Environmental Services, Public Works and Building Committee last month that the building had fallen into disrepair.

CHI St. Vincent operates two certified senior wellness centers in the Hot Springs area, including the McAuley Senior Center at

5010 Highway 7 north near Hot Springs Village. “McAuley Center operations and schedules have not changed. The senior centers also offer a Meals on Wheels service that provides more than 500 meals per week. That service is ongoing and has not changed,” the release said.

The two centers are open to anyone 60 or older, providing “nutritious meals and educational activities,” the release said.