Adult Day Programs Support Families Caring For Elders
hen 85-year-old Linda arrives at Transitions Adult Day Services in Gettysburg each morning, she heads straight for her friends and her bingo card. By lunchtime, she will have done chair exercises, played a few games, shared stories and laughed far more than she did during the long days she once spent alone after her husband’s death and her move from New York’s Catskill region to live with her daughter in New Oxford.
“I miss the house and the neighbors [in New York]. I lived there for 80 years,” she says. “But I was sitting in one room all day. Here, I have people to talk to. We’re always laughing.”
For Linda, the program is a lifeline. For her family, it provides peace of mind and the ability to work and support themselves while she continues living at home with them.
Across Adams County, adult day programs and community care services are quietly making it possible for families to care for aging loved ones at home—longer, safer and with more support than they could manage alone. As the population ages and family caregiving becomes more complex, these programs are essential resources.
A Growing Need in Adams County
Like much of rural Pennsylvania, Adams County is aging. Nearly one in four residents is over the age of 65, and many live with chronic illness, mobility challenges or cognitive decline. At the same time, families are smaller, adult children are working longer hours and the kind of round-the-clock informal caregiving that once happened within multi-generational households is harder to sustain.
That reality leaves many families facing difficult questions: How can a parent remain at home safely? How can a spouse continue working while caring for a partner with dementia? How does a family avoid burnout?
For many, the answer begins with adult day services.
From Family Homes to Community Care
In earlier generations, older adults often remained in family homes, cared for by relatives who lived nearby or under the same roof. Today, longer life expectancy and changing work patterns mean families frequently need outside support—especially when memory loss or physical disability enters the picture.
Adult day programs bridge that gap: offering structured, supervised care during the day while allowing participants to return home each evening. They are not nursing homes, and they are not senior centers. They exist in between—supporting independence while ensuring safety.
“These programs help people stay in their homes longer,” says Dan Mowery, director of Adult Day Services at Transitions. “And they give families the break they need to keep going.”
What Adult Day Programs Provide
At Transitions in Gettysburg and Cross Keys Lifespring Adult Day Services in New Oxford, participants receive far more than social activities.
Programs operate weekdays
and include:
Supervision by trained staff and nurses
Assistance with mobility, bathroom use, meals and medications
Structured physical and cognitive activities
Hot meals and snacks
Secure environments for participants with memory loss
Individualized care plans developed with families and physicians
Transitions serves adults ranging from their late 40s to mid-90s, including individuals with dementia, physical disabilities and other impairments that make extended unsupervised time at home unsafe. The program maintains a 1-to-7 staff-to-client ratio and works closely with families to design schedules that fit their needs—whether that’s one day a week or five.
Cross Keys Village’s Lifespring Adult Day Services program specializes in memory care but welcomes anyone needing supervision. The staff designs programming around seven dimensions of wellness—physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, vocational and environmental—ensuring a holistic approach to balanced, purposeful living.
“Families often tell us it feels like dropping a child off at school the first day,” says Lifespring Day Services Manager Mary Rinaolo. “They’re nervous. But a month later, they see positive changes. They see their loved one talking more, engaging more, and they realize how much this helps.”
Support for Families, Not Just Seniors
For caregivers, adult day services can be the difference between continuing to cope and reaching a breaking point.
Michelle Stoner, Transitions’ director of marketing and admissions, knows this firsthand. Her mother, Joanna Hicks, once directed the program herself. When her own cognitive decline and frequent falls made living independently unsafe, she became a client.
“If adult day services hadn’t been available, I would have had to quit my job,” Stoner says. “It was a lifesaver.”
Stoner also stressed how important it was that her mother was engaged in the program as a “volunteer,” allowing her to maintain the sense of purpose she had built through years of meaningful work in the director position.
Programs intentionally foster that sense of purpose—offering volunteer badges, responsibilities like folding laundry and activities tied to participants’ past careers or interests. The goal is dignity.
For families, that dignity matters. Knowing their loved one is not only safe but valued and engaged allows caregivers to focus on work, errands, medical appointments or simply rest.
Know Us Before You Need Us
The Adams County Office for Aging, Inc. (ACOFA) helps residents age 60 and older maintain independence and dignity in their own homes for as long as possible.
ACOFA Director Lynn Deardorf oversees care managers who assess seniors’ needs, help determine eligibility for funding and coordinate services ranging from adult day programs to home health care, transportation and meal delivery.
“One of the most common things we hear from families is, ‘We wish we would have known you were here earlier,’” Deardorf says.
That statement became the inspiration for ACOFA’s outreach campaign: “Know Us Before You Need Us.” Too often, families contact the office only after a crisis—a fall, a hospitalization or complete caregiver exhaustion.
“People are afraid to talk about aging,” Deardorf says. “But the earlier we connect, the more options families have.”
ACOFA frequently refers families to adult day programs and, when those services are not appropriate, to in-home care providers such as Visiting Angels or the WellSpan VNA Home Care program. Funding support is available for middle-to-low-income residents for some of these services, though formal assessments are required.
Aging in Place
For most older adults, the goal is simple: remain at home.
Programs like Transitions and Lifespring assist families to achieve that goal for as long as possible. They weather staffing shortages, funding challenges and the upheaval of COVID-19. Yet they continue doing this important and fulfilling work.
Linda, who attends the Transitions program five days a week, sums up the experience simply: “Everybody’s friendly. And we get fed good.”
Behind her humor is something deeper: connection, routine, safety—and relief for the family who loves her.
“I have a lot of friends, and I have lost a lot of friends, too, since I started,” she says. “It makes a big difference when you’ve got somebody to talk to. I love it here.”
As Adams County continues to age, adult day services and community care programs will only become more essential. Their success depends not just on funding and staffing, but on awareness.
Families don’t need to wait for a crisis to reach out.
“There are resources here,” Deardorf says. “We want people to know about them before they’re overwhelmed.”
Caring for older adults is not something families must do alone. It takes a village.
Resources
Adult day programs are a great tool for helping people to age in place, but they work best as part of a broader network that may include: In-home personal care services • Transportation programs • Meal delivery • Home safety modifications • Caregiver support groups • Regular medical monitoring
Contacting Adams County Office for Aging (ACOFA) is a great first step for guidance and a comprehensive assessment—they can often connect families with appropriate services based on individual needs and funding eligibility. Many adult day programs and senior centers require physician referrals or pre-registrations, so contacting ACOFA ahead of time can smooth the intake process.
Adams County Office for Aging (ACOFA)
318 W. Middle St., Gettysburg • 717-334-9296 (or 1-800-548-3240) • acofa.org
ACOFA Additional Alzheimer’s/Dementia Support Resources
Dementia Caregiver support group: Third Wednesday of every month at 3 p.m.
Free robotic pets, weighted blankets and other items for individuals living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia
Adult Day Programs
Transitions Adult Day Services
(part of Transitions Healthcare)
595 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg
717-334-6249
transitionshealthcarellc.com
Cross Keys Village
Lifespring Adult Day Services
2990 Carlisle Pike, New Oxford
717-624-2161 • crosskeysvillage.org
In-Home Care Services
Visiting Angels
304 York St. #A, Gettysburg
717-205-2322
WellSpan VNA Home Care
39 N 5th St., Gettysburg
717-812-4433
VNA Home Care of Hanover
& Spring Grove
440 Madison St., Hanover
717-637-1227 • vnahanover.org
Senior Centers & Community Engagement
Adams County Senior Centers
(social, meals, activities; operated in partnership with ACOFA)
Upper Adams Senior Center
300 E. York St., Biglerville | 717-677-6370
McSherrystown Senior Center
201 S. 3rd St., McSherrystown | 717-632-7998
Littlestown Area Senior Center
10 E. Locust St., Littlestown | 717-359-7743
Fairfield Area Senior Center
106 Steelman St., Fairfield | 717-357-5170
York Springs Senior Center
406 Main St., York Springs | 717-991-1882
Additional Resources for Older Adults & Caregivers
Rabbit Transit (Senior Transportation)
1-800-632-9063 — Free or low-cost shared transportation for seniors to medical appointments, adult day programs, grocery stores and senior centers through ACOFA partnerships
PA 2-1-1
Statewide referral line connecting callers with community health, aging, caregiving, utility assistance and social services