Readers Respond

The issue:

Last week’s Independent focused on the plight of one family who protested

at open house for new Alzheimer’s care center.

The article, “Patient’s removal protested,” focused on the protest held

at the grand opening of the Adult Day Care Services of Orange County

facility in Huntington Beach. Perhaps the Independent will consider doing

an article on the positive aspects and impact the center will have from

its new location in Huntington Beach.

This “state-of-the-art” facility meets the day care needs of elderly,

mentally impaired participants with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

It serves residents from the city and surrounding areas, including

Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. We, who serve the elderly

daily, celebrate the presence of this facility in our community. We are

confident that this new center will touch the lives of many persons and

fulfill their long-envisioned hopes and dreams.

The Huntington Beach Senior Outreach Center assists frail elderly with

referrals to this center whenever appropriate. Often caregivers have a

difficult time relinquishing, even for a day, any of the care of their

loved one. Reading only articles that increase their fears of the unknown

may keep them from seeking vital respite care. Without respite, it is

often the caregiver whose health fails, causing immediate, often

inappropriate nursing home placement for one or both of them. The

Independent could offer readers a broader perspective of this grand

resource in our midst. There are many stories to be told demonstrating

the heart and soul of this center.

BETSY CRIMI

Huntington Beach Senior Outreach Coordinator

Past chairperson, Adult Day Services of Orange County

I read of Mary Spadoni’s plight with great sympathy: For Spadoni, her

mother, her family and the Adult Day Care Services of Orange County,

Alzheimer’s, like any catastrophic illness, is cruel and dehumanizing. It

saps the financial, mental and emotional resources of its victims and

their families.

Organizations such as Adult Day Care Services, the Alzheimer’s Assn., the

Orange County Caregivers Resource Center and many other resources have

helped families such as Spadoni’s and mine deal with the heartbreak of

the disease.

My parents moved back to California when my 76-year-old father’s

condition worsened to the point that my mother needed assistance in

caring for him.

In the course of researching sources of help, the administrators and

caregivers at Adult Day Care Services encouraged my mother to bring my

father to the center two or three days a week.

Before utilizing their services, my mother was well aware that, as the

disease progressed and his condition deteriorated, the time would come

when the facility could no longer serve my father’s needs.

Sadly, that day came far too soon. My father’s worsening health has since

required the attention of a geriatric psychiatrist and three specialized

nursing homes. It is expensive. It is painful. None of us in this

close-knit family like to see our father in a nursing home or my mother

living alone while her husband is cared for by others, albeit far more

qualified professionals. We all fluctuate between guilt and sadness and

the awareness that we cannot give him the special care he needs.

I also send my gratitude to the many people who attempt to meet the needs

of Alzheimer’s patients and their loved ones. They serve as guides as my

mother makes difficult decisions about their finances and her own health

and welfare -- factors about which her family, while devoted and

supportive, are not suitably knowledgeable. Without such services and

resources this trying experience would be almost unbearable.

VICKIE L. BRUN

Fountain Valley

I appreciate the focus on the newcomer to our community, Adult Day Care

Services of Orange County. This is a wonderful program for all in the

Huntington Beach community. However, I was dismayed to read about the

dilemma only one family is encountering and nothing about the many other

families and seniors this center helps.

The article mentioned licensing laws regarding day care centers and

caring for participants who require “constant medical attention,” but

nothing about jeopardizing the care of other participants while caring

for those who need more attention.

All too often we have had to read about facilities closing because they

have not met their licensing requirements.

SHARON BEARD

Huntington Beach

The article “Patient’s removal protested” featured the singular, sad

experience of a family whose senior member had been receiving care at

Adult Day Care Center for 10 years. The family chose to present their

grievance at the grand opening of the new center.

As I understand it, the issue is now in the hands of lawyers and will

ultimately be resolved, I’m sure.

While recognizing the objectivity and fairness of the written report, it

becomes glaringly obvious that this is not the case with the visual

presentation. And since most readers today are viewers who depend on the

visual rather than the written to form their opinions, it would seem only

fair if your article had also included some visual aspects of the joyful

expectations at the new center. Perhaps a picture of the hundreds of

visitors who lined up to register for a tour of the new facility would

have been appropriate.

JAMES W. POULOS

Huntington Beach

More than 700 of us attended the grand opening of the new home for the

Adult Day Care Services of Orange County. I observed several media people

and fully expected to see good coverage of the event. The Independent’s

front page story surprised me. One photo caption mentions open house, but

nowhere else in the article is this new “homelike” facility described.

As a new transplant to Huntington Beach from Northern California, where I

worked for 10 years with frail older adults, I assure you this new Adult

Day Care Services facility and its outstanding programs are what others I

have known can only dream of.

If you do not do a piece about what they offer, such as the early

stage dementia and research programs, you are doing a great disservice to

the community. I know protests deserve their space, but loving, exhausted

caregivers deserve to know what respite care is available to them.

GWEN GADBERRY

Huntington Beach

The Independent’s front page article, “Patient’s removal protested,”

totally missed the mark. More than 800 people came to celebrate the

opening of the Adult Day Care center. The article did not provide photos

of the facility or discuss the care that will be offered to 100 fortunate

patients. Instead it focused on one patient who was denied care.

As a neighbor of the facility, I was impressed by the use of the Holtz’s

family property and the generous monetary donation by Hoag to create this

beautiful facility. The Orange County communities will only benefit by

having a day care to service those in need. I am disappointed that you

did not provide a positive focus for this center.

BEVERLY SCHULTZ

Huntington Beach