A Pulaski County day care center for people with Alzheimer’s is getting a reprieve, after it was scheduled to be shut down.
The Pulaski County Alzheimer’s Disease Respite Center planned to close on May 5 as a result of state budget cuts. But state Representative Tommy Turner, state Senator Rick Girdler and the Pulaski County Fiscal Court have banded together in an effort to keep the doors open, at least for a while.
The center’s executive director Pat Brinson says that political team is providing hope.
“The county has found funding to now keep us open through June 30 and as a group, they are going to be evaluating if they can find funding to keep us open for another year.”
The funding for the remainder of this fiscal year is from the Pulaski County Fiscal Court.
In order to deal with the financial strain, the center had doubled its $16-per-day rate. Brinson says that wasn’t a sustainable plan.
“That’s when we started also seeing attendance go down because the $32 a day, our families just could not afford.”
The daily rate is now back to $16-a-day and $12 for a half-day.
In addition to seeking funding for the next fiscal year, the local political leaders will work to renew state funding for future years. State funds for the Alzheimer’s center had previously come through the Lake Cumberland Area Development District.
The Alzheimer’s center serves Pulaski, Wayne, McCreary, Russell and Casey counties.
