Fulfilling a mission to provide relief
Center aids dementia patients and caregivers
Singing Cowboy Gary Sprague sat atop his horse, Dusty, on a Friday afternoon in December telling jokes, playing guitar and singing holiday-themed songs to an audience of senior citizens inside the HonorHealth Desert Mission Adult Day Health Center.
Most in the audience were experiencing the effects of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, but Sprague’s jokes got laughs and the people listening sang along with the familiar songs.
Desert Mission Adult Day Health Center is one of the more than 200 Arizona nonprofit organizations that received Season for Sharing grant funds in 2019. The $5,000 grant helped provide enrichment activities for the people who use the center’s services. Those activities included having a singing cowboy on a full-sized horse come to help celebrate the holiday season.
“I think she looks forward to it, it’s hard for her to communicate, but it’s really been a godsend to me.” Rick D’Amico
Former Valley TV news anchor whose wife, Ruth, has Alzheimer’s disease
But the Desert Mission Adult Day Health Care, located on the campus of HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center in north Phoenix, provides much more than entertainment for the members who use its services.
Providing help for caregivers as well
The center serves adults with cognitive or physical disabilities as well as their caregivers, who are, in most cases, family members.
It offers those who attend a change of scenery and additional mental stimulation away from their home. For the caregivers, the center offers a few free hours during the day to run errands, attend to their own medical needs or simply have some time off from the constant demands of caring for their family member.
Anne Paulus, Honor Health’s director of adult day health care, explained the benefits for both groups.
“For the member, it’s an enrichment program,” Paulus said. “For the most part, they are members who couldn’t be left alone because of their disability; 83% have dementia. Caregivers are at the point where they are trying to maintain them at home. They don’t want to place them (in a live-in facility) for either financial or emotional reasons. But they need to be able to get a break too.”
A chance to get things done
Paulus said it’s estimated that between 40% and 60% of caregivers die before the person they’re caring for does. That’s often because the caregivers are too busy to take care of themselves properly. Enrolling in the program allows those caregivers time to attend to their own needs.
“They come about two times a week, minimum, and we really do want people to come six or seven hours a day,” Paulus said.
“Otherwise, the caregiver is not getting enough of a break. A lot of programs do it by the hour and we used to do that. But we found the caregivers were running themselves ragged, to get things done in four hours or whatever it was. It was insane.”
One family’s story
Rick D’Amico’s face and voice would be familiar to many in the Valley as he was a longtime news anchor on Fox 10 television. He retired in 2016 but only made public the reason for his retirement earlier this year.
D’Amico’s wife, Ruth, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago and he stepped away from his career to devote time to her needs.
He enrolled Ruth in the Desert Mission program earlier this year. She attends twice a week and D’Amico said it’s been a godsend for both of them.
“I was absolutely blown away on the first day I brought her over there,” D’Amico said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I brought her over to register and all that, but when we got there for the first full day, the ladies that work there were amazing. When I dropped her off, I was really shocked at how wonderful and happy and cheerful and positive they were.”
An emotional first day
He said he still felt emotional that first time, however.
“It was almost like the first day dropping off your child at kindergarten,” he said.
But it was a relief to be able to get things done like picking up prescriptions, doing the grocery shopping, getting a haircut or just take a little time for himself to get in a workout at the gym.
“I was trying to get all of that stuff in,” he said. “I could get the shopping done in maybe 45 minutes, where if she were with me, it might take a couple of hours.”
He said the quality of care and attention his wife receives at the center are first rate. He said the nurse at the center brought an issue with his wife’s blood pressure to his attention after a recent day there.
“The nurse told me she was having a blood pressure problem and suggested I give her some salty snacks and Gatorade,” he said. “I’m confident and happy they’re taking better care of her than I
could here in the house.”
Though it’s hard for Ruth to express herself lately, he said she seems to enjoy her time at the center.
“Every time I go over there, they say she’s so sweet and so happy and she’s made some friends,” D’Amico said. “I think she looks forward to it, it’s hard for her to communicate, but it’s really been a godsend to me. It gives me a couple of days to myself and get things done. And for her I think it’s really good.”
Paulus said the D’Amicos’ experience at the center was a common one.
A chance to connect
Caregivers can begin to feel isolated as their loved ones require constant attention. Often, friends and some family members not familiar with people with dementia don’t know how to interact, so they just stay away.
The center organizes a support group for caregivers as well as outings that allow the caregiver and the member a chance to have fun and do normal things — like go to a restaurant — that might not be possible, or at least more difficult, when they are alone. The group setting, particularly with trained staff members present, makes things easier.
“Going out with just one person is difficult for the caregiver,” Paulus said. “It’s usually someone of the opposite sex. How do you take that person to the bathroom?”
But the services provided in the center are at the heart of what Paulus and her staff do.
“Our front desk staff is so amazing,” she said. “They smile, they laugh, they dance with them. Everybody’s so thrilled to see you when you walk in the door, who wouldn’t want to come?”
Friendships are formed
She said the members form beneficial bonds with each other as well.
The people who attend come from varying backgrounds. There are former heads of businesses, doctors, even a former foreign diplomat.
Regardless of background, they form groups at the center based on similar interests they have now.
“They often don’t remember what they did for a living, but they remember if they liked people or if they like to sing or dance or joke around or if they’re a serious person who likes to work on a project,” Paulus said. “We have to figure out who is this person and what do we do with them while they are here. That’s what it comes down to.”
Paulus said her center is not unique. There are at least 12 similar places in the Valley, but the staff works hard to make each member and their caregivers feel special.
“I’ve been doing this for 26 years,” Paulus said. “What I hear most commonly is, ‘I wish I had known about (the center) sooner, I could have really used you years ago.’ People need to know there is another option besides quitting their job (to be a full-time caregiver) or putting someone into a nursing home.”