MERRIMACK – A new adult day center has opened in the area. Founded by Executive Director Kyle Worth, Nashua Adult Day Health Center has been rapidly expanding since its establishment in July.

The Nashua Adult Day Health Center offers programs to Latinos as well as individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

Worth ran a similar program called Maintaining Independence in Hooksett for the last four and a half years; however, it caters to the Nepali, Hispanic and English-speaking populations from Concord to Manchester.

Worth said the program was very self-sufficient, which led him to open Nashua Adult Day Health Center in July.

The program has been able to take in almost 30 participants, though it has space for up to 100.

Worth was able to connect with “day away” programs through St. John Neumann Church in Merrimack and St. Joseph Hospital, which he said offer good and affordable programs; however, they are run only one day a week.

Now, about half of Worth’s participants attend all week, while others spend two or three days.

The center provides a number of services, including physical, speech and occupational therapies on site. They also bring participants necessary appointments.

“We’ll bring people to medical appointments, we’ll help them schedule appointments and transfer them to and from. We also provide case management any time there’s memory impairments or with the Latino group, they struggle with paperwork that they get in the mail. They’ll bring their mail in, we’ll help them get their redeterminations in for Medicaid or if it is food stamps or if they’re just need help paying rent and need to go to the bank. We help with all those things,” Worth said.

They also have nurses on staff to provide medication and any other care similar to that in a nursing home.

“The goal is providing one-stop shopping to seniors,” Worth said.

Worth said there are several things that makes this program beneficial to participants.

“It gives their loved ones the ability to continue working or to not get burnt out from being the primary caregiver,” Worth said. “We’re allowing our families to work still or have free time. We’re also one of the most affordable possible options you can find. Given the amount of services we have, there’s nothing else like this for this price range.” He added, “A visiting nurse at your house is 50 bucks an hour, or they can come here with rides, with meals, with a nurse, at 75 dollars for the entire day.”

Another goal of Worth’s is to keep the elderly population out of nursing homes. “This is a far, far cheaper opportunity, but more importantly it keeps people living in their homes where they want to be,” Worth said.

Though there are several adult day programs across the city, Worth believes his center stands out based on its structure.

“We make it feel like a party every day when you’re here,” Worth said. “There’s always music, always activities. It’s always a very structured day. Other programs do still offer some structure, we just take more of a youthful approach to it.”

To keep things entertaining, Worth said the organization likes to take field trips, despite the fact that they have some participants who have mobility impairments.

“Just in the last month, we walked the grounds of the Anheuser-Busch Factory, went to the Merrimack Outlets, we went fishing twice,” Worth said. “Some of the guys haven’t gone fishing in years, their Alzheimers is mid-stage and they picked up a fishing pole like they had just been going yesterday. They loved it.”

Worth said they are lucky, because they have their own transportation, which gives them the ability to take participants off site. The organization also focuses on keeping residents mentally and physically sharp.

An instructor from the YMCA visits daily to keep the participants moving and offers special classes to peak the participants’ interests. Earlier this week there was a zumba class to peak the interest of the Latino participants, Worth said.

Within a typical day at Nashua Adult Day Center, the participants with Alzheimer’s and dementia will separate from the Latino group for different classes later in the afternoon. Latino participants will take an English as a Second Language class and get citizenship test practice. Participants with Alzheimer’s or dementia will take part in memory care activities such as matching and recognition games.

To learn more, visit www.nashuaadh.com.

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