THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2001
DayBreak brings adult day-care center to Fostoria
By Jefferson Wolfe
Staff Writer
FOSTORIA -- After 10 months of operation, an adult day-care center has seven patients and continues to grow.
DayBreak of Fostoria Inc. operates in the basement of the Good Shepherd Home, providing a place to go for Alzheimer's patients who live at home.
It operates each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, said Terri Faeth, the director.
"They all come from home," she said. "We are basically trying to keep them out of nursing homes."
The center opened April 17 and can take up to 10 people.
"Right now, we have seven," Faeth said. There have been as many as nine.
"The youngest we have is 54 and 90 is the oldest," she said.
While the majority of those enrolled come from Fostoria, some have come from Tiffin, Faeth said. The Fostoria Commission on Aging provides transportation, as does Seneca County Agency Transportation.
"They have been just wonderful," she said.
The group takes trips and also does activities within the Good Shepherd's basement.
"We usually have a day filled with activities, otherwise they want to go home because they get bored," Faeth said.
"I bring the paper in every day and we read through it," she said.
They have made birdhouses and, before Christmas, decorative sleighs. They also bake at least once a week. Some of the men like to bake more than the women, she said.
Monday, the group went to the Findlay mall. The Allen Eiry Senior Center provided transportation there, said Janet Peters, an assistant at DayBreak.
The group walked through the mall and did some shopping.
"If we saw something good, we stopped," said Paul Coppus, one of the people in the program.
"They liked the pet shop," Peters said.
The group also goes on picnics and other outings when the weather is nice. Last year, they toured some covered bridges in the area.
Also, they go to the library and Wesley Day Center, where they interact with children, Faeth said.
The group went to Mansfield for an Alzheimer's Association program, in which an instructor teaches patients how to paint. The staff also learned how to teach painting to the patients. Now, some of the patients are painting pictures using nature photos from calendars. The paintings and the photos are displayed on the walls of the center.
Fostoria Community Hospital provides a liaison to DayBreak.
DayBreak of Fostoria is accepting volunteers of any form who want to work with the patients or give programs. The phone number is (419) 435-4022.