Austin Eugene Manire, known as “Doc” for most of his life, is a veteran of World War II who started showing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is 2007.
That year, Doc’s family started noticing that his behavior was changing, and he was showing signs of dementia.
“He is happy when he is at Mindful Care,” said Manire’s step-daughter and caregiver Pat Bolin. “At the end of a day there, he told me he didn’t talk to a single person. But when I pulled up and looked through the window one day, he was talking to two of the ladies and having a great time.”
Since Bolin found Mindful Care, Doc attends two days a week, and, as his caregiver, Bolin can get some rest and attend to her other needs and responsibilities.
Mindful Care is an adult day program that meets in donated space at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. The program was started 11 years ago by former executive director Tina O’Brien, who recently retired.
Keneshia Sweet is the program director for Mindful Care, a program for adults ages 55 and up who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
The program currently has openings Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the most availability on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mindful Care, which costs $45 a day or $30 for a half day, acts as a social group.
“Everybody looks forward to talking to and seeing each other,” Sweet said. “The program is really to keep them active. We want them to be as active as they can be while they go through Alzheimer’s or dementia so they don’t decline in their memory loss.”
The group spends their day doing a lot of mind-stimulating activities like a trivia game, Jeopardy and a big crossword puzzle they put on the wall; program attendees spend other time playing games, doing crafts and exercising.
“We try to do as many activities as we can a day where they are learning something, or have to remember something, and the chair exercises are to keep them physically active,” Sweet said.
Mindful Care does not have a wait list. To get a loved one into the program, the family just calls and then comes in for a trial run.
“Everyone is on a different level,” Sweet said. “To see where that is, we have them come in and we include them in an activity that is already on the schedule. This will give us an idea of what level they are on, be it not much memory loss or that their time frame is one to five minutes where we will say something and then they ask the question again.”
Payment to attend is by the month to secure the participants’ spots. They can attend any number of days in the week or every day. It is asked that they participate on a consistent level, like every certain Monday or Tuesday of the month or a consistent day of each week. That way when some one wants to attend, they will know there is a spot available.
“Also, when it fits the need, we pair them on the day they fit in best,” Sweet said, adding that Mindful Care designates certain days of the week for lower functioning individuals and others for higher functioning guests.
Mindful Care is funded partially by its participants and mostly by grants.
The organization is in the process of trying to get more grants and their biggest hope is to expand their service and move into their own building.
“We want to grow,” Sweet said. “I want as many people as can to join the program and benefit from it. My goal is to make the caregivers happy, make the participants happy and I want good things to happen. I don’t want anyone to decline in this disease because they don’t have all the support they can around them. Being around people like them also shows them that they are not alone, and they can have fun even though they are going through this. I want to help as many people as I can.”
Mindful Care has been huge for us, said Angie Dean, whose father and father-in-law both attend the program.
“When I’m working at home, I can be one-hundred percent focused,” she said. “But the nicest thing about the program is how much both of them enjoy it. We would not feel good about having them go to a program if they didn’t have a great time while they were there.”
For more information about Mindful Care Adult Day Services, visit mindful-care.org or call 615-542-4371 to set up an appointment.
