He Fengling wakes up at 5:30 a.m. on days she goes to Hong Fook Adult Day Health Care Center. A day-center bus drops her off at about 8:30 a.m. She settles into her routine of a breakfast of toast and jam with a glass of milk, and reading the Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper. Then it’s time for physical therapy to relieve her arthritis and sciatica. There are different pre-lunch activities each day. Today it’s table games: mahjong, tien gow, and Chinese chess, plus bingo. An automated voice says the bingo numbers in English, and a staff member follows with a translation.
“Everybody who sees me raises their thumb to tell me how great I’m doing, that I insist on coming,” said He, who is in her late 80s.
Hong Fook Center’s focus is on the familiar — food, language and faces.
Many older adults can feel isolated even among family as they age out of a caregiving role and into needing care themselves, experts said.
He came to the U.S. in the late 1990s to help her daughter with a new baby. Now, the same grandson that she helped raise checks on her and brings her to doctor’s appointments.
She has memory issues and reduced mobility, which has sometimes isolated her from simple interactions in her day-to-day life, like going to the store.
“After coming here … my thoughts are much more cheerful,” she said of the day center.
https://apnews.com/article/adult-day-center-care-medicare-98943152ebfc62dd898262d93ca32e6f
– Courtesy of AP News
