Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The health commissioner hopes an agency can be found that will take over the program.
YOUNGSTOWN — Without a reprieve, clients of the Senior Day Services program run by Mahoning County District Health Department know the days spent with their friends there are just about over.
And, they are afraid.
“I’m worried about what’s going to happen to me,” said Frank Lesnak of Austintown. “Don’t mind my tears,” he said.
Lesnak, 83, came to the center three or four years ago after his wife, Ellen, died.
“I went to pieces,” he said. “My daughter found this place for me. Here I have somebody to talk to. The staff are terrific people. They make you laugh, and if you have a problem, they help you solve it.”
Sitting with Lesnak was Frank Guzman of Youngstown, who will be 80 next month. “This gets me out of the house,” said the former crane operator for Luntz Iron and Steel in Warren.
Solomon Womack Jr. of Youngstown said he has another place to go if the health department’s program closes but said it would be bad for him nonetheless. “It is something to do and there is a meal,” said Womack, 64.
About 60 low-income and frail seniors attend the program, located at the county’s South Side Annex, 2801 Market St. It has been operated by the health department, in collaboration with the Area Agency on Aging, for 30 years.
It isn’t only the clients who are hopeful that the program can be saved: Employees too are concerned about the clients.
Many of the people, such as Les-nak, come here after their spouses die, said Rita Nolfi, part-time registered nurse for the program.
“This gives them a reason to get up in the morning and shower and meet friends,” said Nolfi, who looks after the clients’ health and says she is a good listener. They have a telephone network and call one another and look out for one another, she said.
One of the reasons the program is so popular is because it is inexpensive. The cost is $5 a day for transportation to and from the center, a meal and crafts and physical activities.
The problem is that the health department, which has subsidized the program with $60,000 a year, says it can no longer afford the money and will cut off the subsidy effective Wednesday.
Gifts from private donors will enable the program to keep operating for another week, but after that, its fate is undetermined, said Matthew Stefanak, county health commissioner.
The clients made a plea to Mahoning County commissioners for enough money to keep the program in operation until sources of revenue can be found to make it self-sustaining. Commissioners said they would look into the request but made no guarantees.
Another path being followed is trying to find a senior services agency that would take over the program and hopefully keep the clients together and the program in its current location, Stefanak said.
The bottom line is the program will remain open until at least May 7, and there are negotiations going on to try to find alternate funding, Stefanak said.
“It would really hurt if the program closes,” said Charlotte DeMarinis, who has been a client for about a year.
“This place has been very inspirational. It’s like a home,” said DeMarinis, whose rosary won a blue ribbon at the Canfield Fair in 2007.
“I hope a miracle happens. These people have become my friends,” she said.
alcorn@vindy.com