Updating the COA

by Michael J. DeCicco

Spring is a time of rejuvenation, and that seems to be the idea behind the recent switching of senior center priorities by the New Bedford Council On Aging.

As of March 6, the Buttonwood Senior Center has been repurposed as an adult social day program. Meanwhile, at the Brooklawn Community Center, the opposite has happened – it has been repurposed from an adult social day center to a senior center, and the former adult social day program at Rosemary Tierney Community Center, Hazelwood Park, is now also a senior center.

“The reasoning for this is because attendance was down at the Buttonwood Senior Center, the largest of the three centers,” COA Director Debra Lee said.

But Lee emphasizes how this change will benefit the city’s seniors. There are approximately 80 people who attend day care at this point, she said, not all on the same day but spread throughout the week. Some people come two days per week, some three, and some as many as five, while there are a few who attend once weekly as well. Meanwhile, since 2016, average daily attendance at the Buttonwood Senior Center has declined 70 percent as seniors increasingly have pursued activities elsewhere. The current attendance levels do not require the larger space available at Buttonwood.

The consolidated Buttonwood adult social day facility will raise the program’s capacity from 55 to about 80 participants, Lee said, and the reopening of the Rosemary Tierney and Brooklawn sites as traditional senior centers will allow for the expanded and more frequent offerings of the seniors most sought-after programming.

“Due to the increasing demand for adult social daycare slots and declining participation at the Buttonwood Senior Center, the New Bedford Council on Aging decided to turn the Buttonwood Senior Center into a consolidated adult social day care Center,” she explained. “Brooklawn Community Center and Rosemary Tierney Community Center, the current sites for the City’s adult social day care programs, once again have become traditional senior centers.”

New Bedford’s senior centers feature exercise programs such as strength and conditioning, zumba, and chair yoga. The latter is being offered in three classes on different days, one at each of the new repurposed centers and now one at the Andrea McCoy gymnasium. Lee notes with pride that city residents are able to take these class for free. The city pays the cost of the instructors who teach these classes and other similar offerings.

“By bringing the centers back to the neighborhoods, we are able to offer nearly two times the desired exercise classes we currently were offering at Buttonwood,” she added. “We are also utilizing space in the Andrea McCoy Recreational Center in order to accommodate even larger classes.”

She assures New Bedford seniors that these moves are meant to improve the city’s services to them. “The COA’s mission and charge is to enhance and update services as the needs arise, and the change speaks to and responds directly to that,” she said. “Both the adult social day programs were treated to a moving party at the Fort Taber Community Center on Friday the third of March. The move ensured no interruption to the ongoing services that are so desperately needed and sought after. Monday, March 6, was the first official day in the new repurposed site of the adult social day care and Buttonwood, and both of the senior centers were also open that day giving folks a chance to stop in and let the staff know what kind of activities were of the most interest to them.”

To find out more about the city’s programs for seniors, go to newbedford-ma.gov/ community-services/divisions/council-aging.

Michael J. DeCicco has worked as a writer for over 30 years. He is also the author of two award-winning young adult novels, Kaurlin’s Disciples and The Kid Mobster. He lives with his wife Cynthia in New Bedford.