St. Leonards

This morning I told Lily we were going to run errands and we drove over to St. Leonards together to the DayAway Adult Day Care area.  When we arrived she asked if she should wait in the car and I said no come on in with me.  As we walked in she remarked about the beautiful gardens outside the door.

After entering we asked for Lisa the director and were directed to her office where she introduced herself to us. She then took us out to the central area where there were approximately 15 elderly male and female "guests" who were scattered about the room.  Some of them were around tables and some were in front of the TV.  Most of them  had coffee cups in front of them, some of them dozing.  I did not observe much interaction at that time among the "guests".  We were introduced to about 5 of the staff and Lisa introduced Lily to all the ladies at the table where she was seated.

I told mom I had to talk to Lisa and then went with her to the office to discuss Lily's history and the DayAway program details.  When we came out mom was talking to the lady next to her who was in a wheelchair but quite verbal.  The lady across the table in the hat was awake now and the other two ladies were smiling.  We discussed mom's choice for lunch and I helped her make a decision as she usually says, "Whatever you think."
Just after that a black lab (I think) showed up name Sophie.  Lisa said she was a Therapy dog who came every Friday to spend the day with the "guests" at DayAway.  Lily's face lit up when she saw the dog so I took that as a good sign and felt fairly confident things were going to go well.  I left Lily telling her I had to go work on the other side of the building and I would be back later to get her.  She just said "Oh okay."

Approximately 6 hours later I came back to get her after enjoying a day to myself and she saw me and said, "Oh there you are.  Where have you been?"  Lisa said she did very well and only started asking about me and her purse (which she did not bring) the last hour.  She said she was able to come up with many words for a crossword puzzle that the staff worked on with the seniors.   Just then Sophie the Therapy dog came over and mom said she had just been playing with her.

Outside the building Lily again remarked about the beautiful garden and when I asked how she enjoyed her day there, she said, "Well it was fine.  I didn't do much."  She really couldn't give me any specifics and by the time we arrived at Krogers (about 5 minutes away) she had totally forgot the whole experience.  I am curious to see how many times she will have to attend before she will start remembering people and events from there.  Overall  I felt pleasantly surprised about the experience for mom and myself.