Creating Enriched Service Environments in the Community: Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Adult Day Center

Abstract

Our common perception of long-term care has remained static for many years. Decades after Congress signed its first law providing federal assistance to the elderly and disabled, “long-term care” still evokes stale images: small rooms with bare walls, the constant hum and beeping of medical machines, and the pervasive atmosphere of isolation. To be part of a long-term care system, according to the ordinary understanding, means to be institutionalized.

Rarely do we imagine ourselves or our loved ones living in a nursing home. Indeed, it is difficult to envision a time in our lives when we cannot live independently in our own home and community. But according to a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services study, four out of every ten adults who turn 65 will use a nursing home at some point in their lives. At a time when healthcare costs are increasing and many are experiencing profound difficulty planning for basic retirement needs, such as housing, food and prescription drugs, saving for a nursing home seems nearly impossible. And, turning to the case of Philadelphia, with one-fifth (19%, or 39,155) of older adults living below the poverty level, the situation seems increasingly dire (Philadelphia Corporation for Aging 2004).

In an effort to provide a new type of service—and a new long-term care solution—to Philadelphia residents, the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) opened an 8,000-square-foot adult daily living center, Ridge Avenue Eldercare Services, in April 2010. It is located at the corner of Ridge Avenue and West Glenwood Avenue in North Philadelphia. Adult day centers are different from nursing homes in that they are designed to enable individuals to remain independent longer, providing them with health care and programming that meets their daily needs.

An alternative to the nursing home, an adult day center is a long-term care model that serves older adults with disabilities or conditions that impede their independent living and functionality, but does not require them to permanently move from their homes into an unfamiliar environment. This type of facility allows clients to receive medical assistance, participate in therapeutic activities, eat nutritious meals, and socialize with staff, other clients and the surrounding community. Ridge Avenue Eldercare Services relieves the financial and emotional burdens on the family and friends of loved ones. It is cost-effective, high-quality, non-institutional care.

By constructing this center, the first of its kind operated by a public housing authority, PHA offers low-income Philadelphia residents a new type of service model, one that provides services near home and community.