Community of Elders Services

"I live with my daughter. I come here every day. It's like brothers and sisters here. I'd be lost without my Bethel family."
—Bertha Thompkins, age 80, participant in Bethel's Adult Day Services

Mission: Elders living to the fullness of life in community.

Programs

Bethel's Community of Elders, currently the largest single initiative of BNL, came out of a two fold desire to serve the needs of our aging community and to develop jobs that provide opportunity for community residents. We have done both, creating over 250 new jobs in community based services, and serving over 700 elders each year in our Continuum of Care:

• Adult Day Services
  Adult Day Services meets the needs of the whole person: socially, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Our services allow elders to overcome physical and mental limitations, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
  
  
• Elder Independent Housing
  We provide living solutions for elders within a healthy and safe environment. These three residential buildings offer 24-hour friendly, dedicated staff, onsite laundry facilities, and recreational activities.
  
  
• In-Home Care (Community Care)
  Our professionally trained homecare assistants provide a variety of household and personal care services. Individuals remain in familiar surroundings, avoiding premature institutionalization.
  
  
• Supportive Living for Elders
  Our certified staff and professionals help provide a nurturing, supportive community for low-income seniors.

Special Initiatives

• Many of our seniors' activities are located on the Beth-Anne Campus, a 9.2 acre site of a former 437 bed, 7 building complex that is now the Beth-Anne Foundation. The community campus enables new life for the area, for the participants, and includes the elderly housing and the above programs, administrative offices, a cultural arts center, Small Business Center, children's day care, a medical center and other services. This campus is a national model of adaptive re-use.
  
  
• Bethel has developed a career ladder for Senior Services employees, enabling people to start as in-home care workers, become certified nurses aides, and connecting with the City Colleges to become Licensed Practical Nurses.
  
  
• The campus enables us to do a lot of intergenerational activities between the seniors and the children on campus, bringing new life to all.
  
• We are also integrating the cultural arts with the seniors' efforts, enabling seniors to participate in a variety of dramatic, poetry, and musical events.