Media Award: Jeff Opdyke, Wall Street Journal, "Finding Day Care-For Your Parents"

This award honors an individual or organization responsible for a print or electronic media product of a distinguished nature that advances the goals of NADSA and is deserving of national recognition.

Jeff Opdyke, writer for the Wall Street Journal, wrote an inclusive article, "Finding Day Care—For Your Parents," published January 10, 2008.  It hit the baby boomers where we live—looking down the rabbit hole at our lives with our parents! Jeff did an exceptional job for our adult day services industry with this article, by including statistics of the industry, talking about trends and developments in adult day services, highlighting the importance of community based care in the continuum of elder care, and speaking of the concerns and painful dilemmas faced by caregivers. He also mentioned the CMS pilot project, MetLife's cost report, and the opportunities for new business development offered by companies such as Sarah Care Adult Day Services, Inc.

Jeff's article helped to take us into this new century of community based services, talking about how many centers have graduated way beyond "glorified sitter services," including interesting clubs, Wii games, rehab and nursing care, and educational and volunteer opportunities. He highlighted the importance of activities to keep the mind active, and the bottom line benefit of delaying nursing home placement.

The most important piece was that Jeff's article was the impetus for many local media pieces, including TV, online and print articles, featuring local adult day centers and talking with families and participants from "our communities."

Thank you, Jeff, for starting off our year with such a positive media piece and including NADSA as one of the key resources.

Continue on to meet more of our award recipients!