Inside the Mount Washington Valley Adult Day Center, guests create art. Linda works on a block print. Marie works on a collage. Jerry paints a colorful sunset that, smirking, he titles “A Bad Saturday Night.” They sing together as they work, integrating music with their art: You Are My Sunshine, This Little Light of Mine.

The MWV Adult Day Center – located in Conway, New Hampshire – is a non-profit that provides care and resources for people with dementia and their caregivers. It is one of three New Hampshire providers selected to pilot a national program called Guiding an Improved Dementia Care Experience (GUIDE). The program, facilitated through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, helps pay for dementia care and caregiver respite as well as care coordination among medical providers. The GUIDE pilot will help expand adult day care coverage to 62 New Hampshire towns (up from 35) and serve an additional 63,000 people across the Lakes Region and North Country.

Lynn Coyle is the Director of the Center. She says that GUIDE will be crucial in providing care for the “whole family unit,” not just the individual with dementia. That includes caregivers and families, too. Those caregivers, she says, desperately need breaks from providing 24/7 care. They need time to care for themselves, to go grocery shopping, to have lunch with a friend. GUIDE will help provide that respite.

To implement GUIDE, the Adult Day Center has hired a full-time Care Navigator whose responsibilities include care planning and coordination, transitional care and management, and caregiver education and support. The Care Navigator will meet with patients and families, both at the Center and in their homes.

Lisa Woodbury, Community Outreach Coordinator at the Center, says that the organization’s participation in the GUIDE program will make a huge difference in the supports that the Center can offer. “We support individuals and their family while they’re here,” she says, “and now, we can support them in their home.”

The Adult Day Center exemplifies expert care for people with dementia and their caregivers. One of many services offered is a salon and spa, a space where nursing staff provide spa amenities and a stylist – also a nurse – runs the salon. Guests can enjoy having their hair washed, cut, perms, manicures, pedicures, and soak in a reclining adaptable tub with jets. For family caregivers, the spa offers a much-needed break from the difficult tasks of bathing or scheduling salon visits. And for the nurses, it is a valuable opportunity to check for early signs of illness, like skin conditions or other concerns that might otherwise go unnoticed. It is this care that keeps guests healthy, happy, and out of the hospital. And here, they can be pampered.

Guest engagement is core to the center’s mission. By working with community program providers and volunteers, guests participate in yoga, dance, gardening, and art. Students and teachers visit the MWV Adult Day Center to perform plays, hold dance recitals, and put on concerts for the guests, fostering intergenerational connections with local elementary schools and in the community.

At the end of the day, guests will reunite with their caregiver, they will have eaten a hot meal with friends, enjoyed yoga, painted, had physical activity, or planted flowers. And their caregivers will have had the time they need to recharge.

From the art room, a chorus of This Little Light of Mine pours into the hallway. As guests leave, guided out to waiting vehicles or driven home, they know that joy awaits them on their return.