Today’s “Friday’s Featured Facility” is The Veranda of Pensacola, a Florida continuing care retirement community. This means that The Veranda offers both independent living and assisted living options, which allows elderly residents to “age in place” – ie – transition from independent to assisted living as their needs increase.

According to their website, the apartments at The Veranda retirement community are spacious, modern and well-equipped one and two bedroom units with fully equipped kitchens.  Utilities and expanded cable TV are included. The amenities at The Veranda include common areas inside and out, an indoor heated pool, fitness center, and a own stadium seating movie theatre.

The Veranda provides housekeeping, linen and laundry service, scheduled transportation for independent residents and coordination of transportation for assisted living residents, a personal emergency response system and maintenance inside and out. The Veranda also has 24-hour camera surveillance.

The dining service provides a healthy breakfast, lunch (main meal of the day) and light meal in the evening. When it is time for community outings, shopping and personal appointments, the professional staff at The Veranda retirement community will schedule the necessary transportation.

The Veranda is just one of many Florida continuing care retirement communities. To see a complete list, searchable by region, visit Florida Senior Living Advisor. The database also includes assisted living facilities, nursing homes, adult day care centers, independent living communities, hospice and skilled nursing units.

The Care Club of Collier County is an adult day care center located in Naples, Florida. Open since 1993, The Care Club is a not-for-profit organization that provides day care for people afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory disorders. Executive Director Luanne Wahlstrom tells me that most of her clients are senior citizens, although there are some younger people who have had strokes or head injuries. The  Care Club is licensed to serve 41 people. Wahlstrom says that during the winter months, the “high season” in Naples, they operate at full capacity; at other times they average around 30 clients.

The Care Club is open from 8:30am-4:30pm. Wahlstrom says they keep clients busy with a variety of activities, including singing, exercise, board games and bringing in outside entertainment. While there is a nurse on staff, she says the program is more  social than medical. They also provide clients with breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack.

According to the website, The Care Club of Collier County administrates a sliding-fee scale of rates, and does not turn anyone away for financial reasons.

To learn more about The Care Club of Collier County, visit http://www.colliercareclub.org/index.htm. For a complete list of adult day care facilities in Florida, as well as other senior living facilities, visit Florida Senior Living

Advisor.

Confession time… I’m visiting family in Tennessee this week so I’ve been neglecting my blogging duties a bit. Late yesterday I remembered that I had not yet written this week’s “Friday’s Featured Facility.” (That’s the problem with starting a regular feature such as this – you create a natural deadline for yourself!) I decided I wanted to write about one of Florida’s adult day care centers, but which one? A quick search of my Florida Senior Living Advisor database lead me to All One Family Senior Day Programin Merritt Island. Two minutes into my conversation with owner Stephanie Licavoli, and I knew I had found a great senior facility to feature.

Stephanie explained that she and her sister-in-law Karen Wilkes decided to open their adult day care center after their family members had bad experiences in other facilities.

“They would come home with urine-soaked clothes,” Stephanie explained. “And she was left sitting in front of the TV all day and then be up all night when I got her home.” Those personal experiences have helped Stephanie and Karen create a facility that they say is “completely different from any other senior day care.”

According to Stephanie, Florida law only requires that an adult day care center keep its clients busy 60% of the day, so many only meet that minimum requirement. All One Family keeps its clients busy the entire day, alternating between physical exercise and mental stimulation.

“In many centers, all you see are recliners and television,” she explained. “We don’t have any recliners. We play games, we go outside and we have a Wii game that they love.” Stephanie said they also focus on treating clients with respect and dignity, regardless of their physical or mental limitations.

All One Family is open from 7:45am-4pm Monday-Friday, but Stephanie said they are very flexible because she knows from experience that caregivers have needs outside of those times. “If a caregiver wants to go out to dinner, or if you are running late, we don’t charge anything extra for that.” All One Family is licensed to care for 24 people. Their current average is 15-19 per day. The cost is $68 per day, but here again, Stephanie said they are flexible and will work with people who have financial limitations.

Adult day care can be a wonderful option for someone who wants to care for their elderly loved one in their own home, yet who has work or personal commitments during the day that get in the way. There are more than 150 licensed adult day care centers in Florida. It’s clear to me that All One Family is one that is setting a high standard for quality.

To learn more about All One Family, visit their website at www.allonefamilyseniordayprogram.com.