SHERBURNE – The Sherburne Adult Day Health Care Center opened its doors to its first clients Monday morning. The center is intended to help keep people out of nursing homes for as long as possible by increasing their independence and providing respite for their caregivers. The facility is equipped with a spacious activity room, a medical room, sick room, outdoor patio, two bathrooms with an assisted shower room, kitchen, and staff facilities including a separate kitchen and bathroom.

An affiliate of the Crouse Community Center nursing facility in Morrisville, the Sherburne Adult Day Health Care Center aims to do everything a nursing home does, except on an outpatient basis. One registered nurse is on staff along with three C.N.A.s (Certified Nursing Assistant) to transport the patients, travelling 20 to 25 minutes daily to pick them up.

During a typical morning at the center, the patients will first be picked up by a C.N.A. driving the facility bus to the Sherburne center for a continental breakfast, said the Sherburne facility supervising RN and Director Marlette Yarnes-Halbert. The patients then participate in various “morning get moving” exercises, before a lunch and afternoon activities. They then return home, once again via the facility bus, between 2 to 4 p.m.

A favorite activity for some of the patients are the shopping trips they are frequently taken on. “We coordinate the shoping visits with our other two centers in Hamilton and Cazenovia to give our patients a chance to be social with their friends from the other locations,” said Crouse Community Center Social Worker Heather Anderson, who added they also try to do their shopping locally in the Sherburne and Norwich areas. Socializing is an important part of the adult day health center’s work, she said.

“We want the patients to feel as though they are a part of something, by doing everything from social shopping, to going out to eat, and even personalizing their medical needs,” said Yarnes-Halbert.

The food for the center needs to come from a federally-regulated facility. Subsequently patients are given a menu from the Hamilton Hospital and a C.N.A. drives there to pick up their choices.