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Alzheimer’s Center Forced to Close
< < Back to alzheimers-center-forced-to-closeAn Alzheimer’s day care center that serves people from five Kentucky counties is shutting down after 30 years due to a cut in state funding.
The Pulaski County Alzheimer’s Disease Respite Center. in Somerset, was expecting to get its usual state funding of about 86-thousand-dollars – that’s about half of its annual budget. Other funding comes from the United Way and the local government.
When state funds were unexpectedly cut for this fiscal year, the center began charging families a minimal fee, eventually raising it to 32-dollars a day. But that still did not generate enough revenue.
The six-person staff provides a full-day of of activities for the 24 clients with Alzheimer’s. Executive Director Pat Brinson says she’s concerned about those who used the center, “I’m very sad for our families and the clients, very disappointed in our state and I’m sort of angry and upset as to what are we going to do with these people? They deserve to be cared for.”
The center serves residents of Pulaski, Wayne, McCreary, Russell and Casey counties. It will close on May 5th.