County acknowledges adult day services

LIHUE — The Rotary Club of Kapaa meeting was calling, but Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. took time to visit with kupuna at the Kauai Adult Day Service Center.

The staff was hosting a Star Talent Show to celebrate National Adult Day Services Week, and Carvalho took advantage of the celebration to offer a proclamation as well as serenade the kupuna.

The week of Sept. 15 through 21 is set aside to raise awareness of the important service provided by adult day services for older adults and persons with disabilities, the proclamation states.

Celebrating the theme of “Adult Day Services: Pushing Boundaries to Reach New Heights,” adult day service centers such as the Kauai Adult Day Health Center offer a coordinated program of professional and compassionate services for adults in a community-based group setting, the mayor getting curious peeks from the preschool students of Ae Kamalii Preschool who took advantage of the singing to grab a drink of water in the quickly-warming morning.

Adult day service centers also off social and some health services to adults who need supervised care in a safe place outside the home during the day, offering caregivers respite from the demanding responsibilities of care giving.

Established in 1979, the National Adult Day Services Association has made great progress in promoting the concept of adult day services as a viable community-based care option for people.

National Adult Day Services Week is celebrated during the third week of September with more than 5,000 adult day centers across the nation coming together to celebrate and let the community know of the services it offers to build better lives for the people and communities it services.

Visit www.nadsa.org for more information.

• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.