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Meet Sylvia, Countess of Monte Cristo . . .

SYLVIA Ellis is beginning a new venture in a fast-growing niche which all too clearly reflects Bermuda's changing demographics. Monte Cristo Gardens Better Living Centre is one of many new private centres which are needed to care for Bermuda's ageing population.

An intriguing advertisement in The Royal Gazette proclaimed, boldly, "COMING SOON! Day Care for the Elderly" and somewhat teasingly, "In the Western Area", which left open a few square miles of possibilities. More specifically, "Offering Professional Health Care, Programs that enhance Longevity, Varied opportunities to enjoy Nature", and, "Stimulating, enriched Social Activity".

Mrs. Ellis, a woman with the sort of gentle and capable manner and precise diction which would encourage you to drop granddad off for the day, filled in some of the details. Monte Cristo Gardens is a property at 10, Middle Road, Sandys, "just across from the little chapel, next door to the Hitching Post", whose address is shortly to change to 1, Wreck Road.

"I have been involved in this kind of business for about 13 years. I owned a rest home in the West End. We hope to be in operation within the next month, and if so, will be grateful. Right now, we are close to completion of some work we need to do for the Fire Service. We have met the requirements of the Health Department."

Mrs. Ellis expects to host ten people for day care, and within a few more months, to be able to offer residential care to a few seniors.

"Once again, it is a question of making a few changes for the Fire Service to meet their residential requirements, and then we can offer residential service."

Mrs. Ellis will have a qualified nurse on hand, "and any other supporting medical help which will be necessary", but is also appropriately qualified for her task, having earned a bachelor's degree in Education, specialising in geriatric day care, and a master's degree in learning disabilities from Loma Linda University in California.

"We are looking for it to be a place where we not only give healthy, helpful, services for the elderly, but we hope to have programmes which will help to enhance longevity. We will have a craft programme, and will encourage gardening, and other hobbies.

"We hope to develop cross-social activity, so that they can mingle not only with the other people at Monte Cristo Gardens, but also with other well elderly persons. The door can be open for whoever wants to come.

"Right now, we are at a novice stage, because we are just trying to get the building done. When we fully develop the property, we hope to have an adjacent garden for our seniors."

Mrs. Ellis plans to keep the seniors occupied and active, with trips planned to special places of interest, perhaps with the help of the Project Action bus or private transport.

"The goal is to stimulate the five senses. One of the things we will do that is a little bit different, and that is we will promote healthy eating, and will lean towards wherever modern science is leading in that regard.

"We do prefer a plant-based diet, and it will be sensible and delicious. We want to help preclude the development of high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, and generally help pursue a healthy diet and lifestyle, which also helps preventing diabetes."

Mrs. Ellis is guarded about making too clear a definition of "elderly" within a specific age bracket, but would expect her customers to be seniors of pensionable age.

"The programme we want to offer would not limit itself to any age group, in the sense that we are interested in nurturing people in lifestyle change, and we may offer supplementary programmes in stress management, and healthy cooking and eating, and understanding the rules for good health, and preventative medicine, which are sensible goals for people of all ages. The day care programme will only be one facet of the Better Living Centre.

"I have been on this journey for a very long time, and although I have taught for years, it is still something I am very interested in. I recognise from my own personal experience that it is important to consider the physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and social growth of an individual, and we hope that we can offer that here, that we are able to deal with the total person, not just be a comfort because a person is ageing. "

Mrs. Ellis' seniors will not be exposed to the banalities of day-time television, but will be stimulated by interesting activities, and will be able to feel that they are very much "in the community". She expects that her programme may fit the needs of people who are younger than 65, but who may feel they will profit from her holistic approach to healthy living.

"We hope to provide lifestyle counselling, so that at some point in time, some people who are not elderly may want advice on how best to take care of their bodies, and we will also offer a weight management programme, and a diabetes management programme."

The seniors who take advantage of day care or other services will only do so with the approval of their primary physician.

Mrs. Ellis explained: "Whatever we offer has to be in harmony with the care and prescriptions of their doctors. Obviously, if they need nursing care, they will have to be in a nursing home. The placement process and governmental controls will ensure that we get the type of people who can benefit from what we have to offer."

The advert stimulated interest from seniors, family members, and relevant seniors organisations, but Mrs.Ellis did not want to be too specific about numbers, or about the prospective cost of the day care service, except to say that she would expect it to be "manageable".

"Everything has a growing process, and whenever you start something new, it is better to walk before you run. We want to get everything in place, and then we can make all the information publicly available, and hope to create a serious interest. We want to meet needs in our community."

Claudette Fleming, executive director of Age Concern, was optimistic that there was a need for more day care for the elderly, and that Monte Cristo Gardens would help fill that need. There are already about a dozen other private day care centres for the elderly.

"I went up there last week to have a look, and there are a few things that Mrs. Ellis is diligently trying to address to allow her to open for business, dealing with environmental and fire regulations. The idea is good, and I got a call from another person yesterday, who is interested in opening up a day care centre."

Mrs. Fleming is convinced that, if the policy of the Ministry of Health is to encourage family members to care for seniors within the family, more such centres will be required, given that most adult family members are in the workforce, and not available to care for seniors during the day.

"Increasingly, these centres will be very 'user-friendly', offering not only a place to go for the day and some activities, but meals and transportation. We don't have the numbers for this, but we suspect that there are a lot of seniors 'home alone' and in need of supervision of some kind. It would certainly ease the mind of family members to know that their seniors are in a safe and caring environment during the day.

"I want to encourage people like Mrs.Ellis, and it may be that the need will not be so much for a place for the 'well elderly', who are out doing things on their own, but for seniors who need more attention. We definitely need to find a way to get to people who are on their own.

"The first step is 'home care', where someone visits and helps with meals, and day care is the next step. Whether seniors will come out to a day care centre, which costs money, or just stay home, I don't know."

She believes that day care centres charge between about $65 to $100 per day, although Government-subsidised rates are nearer $50.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann had not been able to respond to questions about any Ministry of Health requirements for Elderly Day Care Centres by press time.