A local adult day care center administrator is getting national attention for her leadership.
Shannon Ross, director of center operations for SarahCare Adult Day Care Center’s corporate-owned locations in North Canton and Canton, received this year’s Administrator Award from the National Adult Day Care Service Association.
Ross was recognized at the industry group’s annual conference recently in Louisville, Ky., which she helped chair.
Ross, 36, of Canton, was nominated by Dr. Merle Griff, SarahCare’s founder and chief executive.
“I was absolutely speechless and very excited,” Ross said. “It took a while to sink in.”
Ross oversees the daily operations of the two centers, which provide services for about 90 adults daily every Monday through Friday.
SarahCare also has franchise locations across the country.
The majority of the clients at the Stark County centers are people 60 or older who have dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, previous strokes and isolation or depression, Ross said. Some live alone, but many live with a loved one.
The centers’ adult day health-care nurses monitor medications and provide personal care and other services, allowing loved ones to go to work or get a break from around-the-clock care.
“When people need some kind of service, the two things that pop into people’s heads are nursing homes or home care,” Ross said. “I think adult day care was that hidden gem.”
SarahCare also provides much-needed socialization for those who attend the program, she said.
“We have a wide array of activities that we offer, different games, crafts, clubs,” Ross said. “We do a lot of outings all over the area. We go to the movies, we go shopping, we go bowl, we go golfing.”
Ross joined SarahCare about 10 years ago as the activity director before being promoted.
Interest in adult day care services has been growing in recent years as the population ages and people look for an alternative to residential settings, she said.
“I absolutely love it,” she said. “I like that we are still providing much-needed services that nursing homes do as well but in our setting everybody goes home at the end of the day. The feeling of being with us is completely different than being in a nursing home. With us, they’re here, they’re having a great time, but they still get to go home at the end of the day.”
The centers she oversees together have about 40 employees, she said. Some clients are self-pay, but services also are covered by the Medicaid waiver program known as Passport, veterans benefits and long-term care insurance.
Holiday health talk
Going home for the holidays?
Family gatherings this time of year offer a great opportunity to gather information about family health history, according the Cleveland Clinic.
The clinic’s Center for Personalized Health is offering a free, downloadable Health & Your Family Tree toolkit to help gather valuable information that can be shared with a physician.
The toolkit is available at www.clevelandclinic.org/family.
Kids’ fitness
Kohl’s recently gave Akron Children’s Hospital a grant for $225,413 to support fitness programs in the community.
The money is being used to provide school-based assemblies about basic nutrition, healthful eating and physical activity at schools in Akron and the Youngstown-Warren area, according to a news release.
Kohl’s raised the funds through Kohl’s Cares, an initiative that sells $5 books and plush toys, with net proceeds benefitting children’s health and education programs nationwide.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.