Several months ago, Richard, an Army veteran, had no housing and was camping in the woods after he left his job to take care of his father in Utah who had cancer. He had returned to Northern Arizona for a job that fell through, and he didn’t have the money he needed for a down payment and first and last month’s rent on an apartment without steady employment.
Following advice from a support group, Vivian Sarsam decided to take her 86-year-old husband, Muntaz, to Tempe Adult Day Health Services Center two years ago. The couple has been married for more than 50 years, and she said it was difficult at first to leave her husband, a retired engineer who once spoke several languages, with anyone. She quickly grew to trust the faith-based center, and now her husband goes to the “senior center” twice a week for about five hours a day and is picked up at their house by a paratransit program. Despite his cognitive health issues, he is living a full life through the day center and with the help of his wife, friends and family.
