Human Services
Consolidating Arlington's Adult Day Health Programs
Co-locating the County’s two adult day health care centers ensures continued delivery of services, allows room for growth and makes financial sense
- All current program participants will continue to be served without disruption.
- Even after consolidating the two programs, the Walter Reed Center can accommodate additional participants. With Madison and Walter Reed at a current census of 21 and 9, respectively, there is capacity for 10 additional participants before reaching the licensing limit of 40.
- The consolidated center will maintain the same hours – open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. – and offer the same quality, supervised environment for older adults and adults with cognitive and physical impairments.
- Participants will continue to be involved in therapeutic and social activities and receive health care monitoring, a nutritious meal and assistance with personal care needs
- Madison Center staff will assume operation of the day program at Walter Reed, which is currently operated under contract by Easter Seals. The staff, including program management, nursing, mental health and recreation specialists, has significant experience in the field and longstanding bonds to clients. Their involvement will be key in ensuring a smooth transition and the future success of the consolidated program.
Programs underutilized locally, regionally
- Madison has a long history of underutilization. Recent analysis of daily attendance records from FY05 to present revealed Madison has operated under capacity (fewer than 36 participants daily) since 2004. Attendance has averaged between 19 to 32 daily participants for many years, never reaching full capacity. Data for the past five years is as follows:
Madison Center: Average Daily Attendance
| FY05 | FY06 | FY07 | FY08 | FY09 |
Capacity: 36 | 30 | 25 | 27 | 24 | 21 |
- Attendance at adult day centers across Northern Virginia has shown a marked decline in recent years. Experts are attributing this change to a number of factors such as increased availability of home care services, declining health in older adults with multiple disabilities, and program fees.
- Due to underutilization and budget reductions, Prince William County also recently closed a center and Fairfax County is planning to close a center shortly. Alexandria has asked Arlington if we were interested in purchasing any of its excess day slots.
New facility offers many advantages
- Geographically, Walter Reed is more centrally located for Arlington residents making drop-offs and pick-ups easier for participants and caregivers.
- Demographically, the majority of Madison and Walter Reed participants live in clusters closer to the Walter Reed Community Center.
- Although both centers are located in County-owned community facilities, the Madison building was constructed in 1953 and now requires many costly structural and systems repairs to improve usability and meet ADA standards.
- Merging programs will result in significant maintenance savings to the County. To meet ADA standards at Madison, cabinets and countertops need replacing to be at accessible heights, door knobs and locks much be replaced and significant upgrades are needed for the flooring and some bathrooms.
- Walter Reed is a more energy efficient facility with newer systems and equipment and was recently renovated and classified as a “Green” building. The center also has a better layout ensuring greater visibility of program activities and tighter security of participants who wander due to dementia.
- The current sliding scale fee that the County offers will bring more affordable adult day services to the current Walter Reed participants and to the community at large.
