MERIDIAN, Idaho — Elderly residents in the Treasure Valley in need of daytime care are searching for solutions after the abrupt closure of the SarahCare adult daycare facility in Boise in November. Now many families are meeting with former employees at nearby senior centers to keep their loved ones taken care of.
- SarahCare of Boise families are finding alternative solutions for daily senior care.
- Cyndi Smith and her mother Fidelia Moreno spend their week traveling to Boise or Meridian Senior Center for similar service from former SarahCare employees
(Below is a transcript of the broadcast story)
Cyndi Smith and her mother Fidelia Moreno recently moved from California to Boise in 2022. That's when Fidelia began service at SarahCare Daytime senior facility.
"They'd specially order paint kits for her and everything and just keep her really entertained the other people there were all social; they played a lot of games. It's like daycare for seniors,” says Cyndi Smith, Fidelia’s daughter.
As I reported, SarahCare of Boise closed its doors just before the Thanksgiving holiday, but a few former employees offered to continue helping out participants.
Smith says, “We're going to take a group of people and we'll be at the senior center, and we'll stay with them, and we do pay them so they can still have someplace to go.”
At least three days out of the week Fidelia goes to the Boise or Meridian Senior Center.
There she gets to draw. She also likes to spend her time reading books. Her favorite genre? "All of them,” says Fidelia.
However, the biggest part of SarahCare that Fidelia and many miss is socialization.
She says, “In places like this, you encounter a person that sort of has your interest, too, and then it becomes fun and then it becomes fun because you get to see that person here and there and everywhere.”
While local senior centers are a good replacement for now, Smith says it doesn't compare to SarahCare.
“Everything was very consistent and that's really important is to have consistency this kind of going back and forth and stuff at times is kind of different it's a little bit jumbling, but I'm just praying that it will all work out,” says Smith.
