An adult day care (ADC) program is generally operated as a day care facility for elderly adults who need certain supervision and assistance with activities of daily living such as eating, hygiene, assistance with taking medication and recreational activities. Of importance, any facility, place, or building that is maintained and operated to provide care to persons 18 years of age or older in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or the protection of these individuals on less than a 24-hour basis is considered an adult day care program.
While many adult day care programs offer rehabilitative services, including physical and occupational therapies, meals and nutritional counseling, social services (case management), and/or recreational and social activities, they are not licensed to provide medical care. Adult day care programs in the State of California are licensed by the Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division, which is responsible for the oversight of facilities that provide less than 24 hour care to ensure safe, effective and quality care for all Californians.
A newly developed concept in California, adult day care programs are listed on the California Department of Social Services’ CCL website, www.dss.ca.gov. This list is updated weekly.
State Sponsored Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers
An Alzheimer’s day care resource center is a center developed to provide a program of specialized day care for participants with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
The California Department of Aging provides grant funding to thirty six (36) Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers to provide specialized day programs for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers try to meet the physical and psychosocial needs of people with Alzheimer’s disease to help prevent acute care costs and nursing home placement.
Under the state sponsored program, Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Centers are required to provide support groups and respite for caregivers, give expert assessment and care planning, offer professional and lay training, provide a safe, supervised, structured environment, collect data for research, and increase public awareness. The goals of the program are to save public dollars by preventing or delaying placement into a nursing home or care in more expensive settings, maintain optimal functioning of each individual’s physical and mental health over the inevitable course of the disease, enable older persons with dementia to remain living at home for as long as possible, and provide regular respite from 24-hour care responsibility for caregivers.
