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Guiding Care at the Mount Washington Valley Adult Day Center
Inside the Mount Washington Valley Adult Day Center, guests create art. Linda works on a block print. Marie works on a collage. Jerry paints a colorful sunset that, smirking, he titles “A Bad Saturday Night.” They sing together as they work, integrating music with their art: You Are My Sunshine, This Little Light of Mine.
The MWV Adult Day Center – located in Conway, New Hampshire – is a non-profit that provides care and resources for people with dementia and their caregivers. It is one of three New Hampshire providers selected to pilot a national program called Guiding an Improved Dementia Care Experience (GUIDE). The program, facilitated through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, helps pay for dementia care and caregiver respite as well as care coordination among medical providers. The GUIDE pilot will help expand adult day care coverage to 62 New Hampshire towns (up from 35) and serve an additional 63,000 people across the Lakes Region and North Country.
Lynn Coyle is the Director of the Center. She says that GUIDE will be crucial in providing care for the “whole family unit,” not just the individual with dementia. That includes caregivers and families, too. Those caregivers, she says, desperately need breaks from providing 24/7 care. They need time to care for themselves, to go grocery shopping, to have lunch with a friend. GUIDE will help provide that respite.
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