Iredell Adult Day Services Hosts Ribbon-Cutting to Celebrate Adult Day Health Certification

Iredell Adult Day Services (IADS) in Newton, N.C. — a nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for older adults, vulnerable groups, and their families, and part of EveryAge — hosted a ribbon cutting June 26 to celebrate its Adult Day Health certification.

This certification — which joins IADS’s existing Adult Day Care certification — permits the center to offer healthcare monitoring, education, assistance, and counseling to participants and their caregivers through daily nursing supervision. It also allows the center to provide services to a greater number of frail or disabled older adults who need support during the day, granting their caregivers much-needed respite and the opportunity to live and work more freely.

Speakers at the ribbon cutting event included Debbie Howell, IADS program director; Aimee Reimann, EveryAge COO; the Rev. Tom Corbell, IADS board chair; and Shannon Viera, president and CEO of the Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce.

Participants at Iredell Adult Day Services will now be able to choose between having Adult Day Care services or Adult Day Health services, as determined by their individual needs. Adult Day Health is intended to enable aging, disabled, and handicapped people to achieve and maintain an optimum level of independence through supportive services. Certification is coordinated through the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and the Iredell County Department of Social Services (DSS).

The Adult Day Health program promotes social, physical, and emotional well-being through health care services, program activities, and use of appropriate community resources. To accommodate IADS’s new clinical care, the center has created a private treatment room and hired a nurse, Marilyn Scott, RN, who has extensive healthcare experience in Iredell County. As part of the months-long certification process, the State of North Carolina also had to conduct an onsite evaluation and inspection of the facility, as well as review new policies and procedures.

Now, IADS is equipped to provide physical assessments of participants, monitor blood pressure, help administer medications, change dressings, and consult with the participant’s primary care physician, among other services. The nurse also can provide education to participants and families about cardiac conditions, diabetes, respiratory diagnoses, and other relevant disease-specific needs.

An additional benefit of Iredell Adult Day Services’ Adult Day Health certification is that the center can operate as a satellite location for Carolina SeniorCare, an EveryAge PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) organization based in Lexington, N.C. According to NCDHHS guidelines, Iredell County residents fit into the service area of Carolina SeniorCare — previously, participating residents have had to travel to Davidson County to visit the PACE clinic or its day center. With IADS’s new certification, local participants have a much closer option for healthcare, activities, socialization, and other standard PACE services.

This combination of enhanced care, convenience, and local team members was the primary motivation behind the decision to pursue Adult Day Health certification. “From its early days as ElderCenter, IADS has been a mainstay of care excellence for vulnerable adults and people with disabilities and mental cognition issues,” said Debbie Howell, IADS program director. “We’ve long been considered Iredell County’s leading provider of affordable adult day services, and we’re now even more robust in what we can offer participants and families so that they’re able to thrive independently. Their social, physical, and emotional well-being are our ongoing focus.”

Thomas Chang, EveryAge’s senior director of home and community-based services, agreed. “When EveryAge entered into a management agreement with IADS last summer, we wanted to use our experience in senior care and senior living to bolster health and wellness opportunities for people in Iredell County,” he said. “We’re excited to have put that in motion and to be creating a more cohesive care environment that minimizes hassles and maximizes family satisfaction and quality of life.”

Iredell Adult Day Services cares for participants from 7:30 a.m. till 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Adults of all ages are welcome, and IADS specializes in older adult care for such memory-impaired diagnoses as Alzheimer’s, dementia, TBI, stroke, and other learning disabilities.