For a client who is losing the ability to live independently, be it physically or cognitively, the separation from the community they have been part of for years can be total. Family members who provide care for the individual can find themselves in a similar situation, as the burden of care becomes all-consuming. But the Daybreak Community Program can provide a new lease on life.

Daybreak- which operates under the auspices of Interior Health out of the F.W. Green Home in Cranbrook and Kimberley Special Care Home (The Pines) in Kimberley - provides social and recreational opportunities for seniors in a group setting. But it can be much more than that - often it is an individual’s reconnection to the community, the world, even the interests that he or she once enjoyed.

“The main purpose of the Daybreak programs is keeping people connected. They’ve been part of Cranbrook or Kimberley, they stay part of Cranbrook or Kimberley,” said Mari Thomas, Recreation and Daybreak Program Coordinator with Interior Health.

The Daybreak Community Program certainly provides fun opportunities for seniors in general. Activities include arts, crafts, games, exercises, music, and group outings to restaurants or community events. It’s an opportunity to get out of the house and socialize. But Daybreak also offers a facility-based program, which gives support to clients whose ability to live on their own is getting minimal.

In many cases, the clients are dealing with dementia, and are losing their self-awareness and insight, as well as their longtime community connection. The burdens placed on their caregivers can be quite onerous and stressful. Daybreak can provide extra health monitoring for the client, and give the caregivers a break.

Staff at the Green Home and The Pines can also use the Daybreak visits to provide health monitoring and checkups. And if the client’s needs are severe enough, respite care at the Green Home or The Pines can be recommended - a short-term stay.

Eventually, a person may go from Daybreak Program client, through respite care, and eventually becoming a resident at the Green Home or the Pines.

The program serves as a socialization for the clients - the program helps to change attitudes. A client may see facilities like the Green Home or The Pines as a last stop, as indeed an exile from the community. But the clients are assured that the Daybreak programs, though run out of the Green Home or the Pines, are not part of those facilities, and in fact can improve the clients’ ability to take part in the community.

At the same time, the program prepares clients for the eventuality of going into residential care.

Consider the example of one woman, who suffered from dementia, which gradually increased in severity. Her main caregiver was her husband. She started off in the Daybreak program, at first just one visit a week. Her visits were gradually increased to five a week. At first she didn’t want to come, Thomas said. But she came to look forward to the visits, and to get used to Green Home setting. And when the time came for her to move into residential care, it was much easier, Thomas said. And it was a great load of stress off her husband.

One of the main functions of the program is also to provide respite for the clients’ caregivers, who are often elderly themselves. Daybreak gives them a break, to run errands, or just get a little rest. And it helps prepare the families of the client as well, who, understandably, may have feelings of guilt or ineffectiveness.

In other cases, the client is often living on his or her own, and may be cognitively well, but dealing with mobility issues, preventing the client from taking part in seniors programs or activities, or the social milieu to which they belonged for years - and loneliness can become a key issue.

“The seniors’ programs in the community function really well,” Thomas said. “But people sometimes slip through the cracks.”

Thomas says Daybreak may hear from the person’s care workers, friends, neighbours, or even current Daybreak clients, expressing concern for someone.

And as well as reconnecting these clients with the community, Daybreak can reconnect them to their own interests and abilities - painting, for instance, or quilting, or the numerous activities Daybreak offers. Often, clients have reconnected with old acquaintances or friends in Daybreak, Thomas says.

“There are lots of people living on their own, often in terrible living conditions,” said Thomas. “We want to hear about them.

“But getting the word out there is a challenge. The public doesn’t know there is a program like us, that fills the gap, that is very much part of the community.”

For more information on the Daybreak Programs, contact Mari Thomas at 250-420-2451.