Black Hills Center for Aging-Adult Day Services
As a family caregiver, Black Hills Center for Aging (BHCFA) has played a pivotal role in my family’s ability to keep our father in his own home over the last five months and hopefully for the foreseeable future. My dad has advanced early onset Alzheimer’s, a disease I would not wish on anyone. When my mom passed away in March, not only did he lose his loving wife he also lost his care provider. My brother and I tried to make things work but are both working full-time and have families of our own to care for. We hired help from Interim Health Care and Care.com which helped, but it was so isolating for my dad at the early age of sixty-eight to only have interactions with a few people and be confined to his home. One of the providers suggested we check out BHCFA. I admit I was leery as I did not know if it would be the right place for him, but I knew the isolation was only making Alzheimer’s worse, so I decided to look into it. This nudging side comment became a game changer for us. The Director, Melanie was delightful. She walked me and my dad through the building, introducing us to everyone as we walked through. I soon realized this was the exact place he needed to be. The variety of people with different abilities and levels really opened my eyes to the population of people we have living right here in our own backyard. Our family was not alone. The stress, fear, sadness, and uncertainty we were experiencing trying to figure out what to do, what was best for our dad, was the same feelings other BHCFA participants families had felt. We as children were not alone and neither was my father. BHCFA was full of loved ones, parents, siblings, grandparents, children whose families loved them, but were unable to help at the same level or give their time at the same level BHCFA participants needed. My Dad and the rest of the BHCFA participants are able to have a renewed sense of life. Life they still deserve to live. The center takes my dad out bowling, to paint pottery, go to movies, have ice cream, go dancing, visit the park, etc. BHCFA gives him a chance to be surrounded by people, enjoying his life, as opposed to stuck in his home with one person to talk to or being placed in a nursing home which was our next best option if BHCFA did not work out. I think back to my leeriness, and I wonder how many other families are in the stressful pickle we were in. I wonder how many other families are unaware of all the awesome things the BHCFA is doing? I wonder how many families will place their loved ones in an advanced care facility before their time because they feel they have no other options. BHCFA is a vital service to the people of Rapid City. I can only imagine how many more families it can help as word spreads about the wonderful things happening here.