WATCH: Respite program holds grand re-opening after pandemic shut its doors

Nina Alter, director of The Caring Place, stands with board members of The Caring Place and members of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce as she cuts the ribbon during the facility’s grand re-opening ceremony. – Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record
Nina Alter, director of The Caring Place, stands with board members of The Caring Place and members of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce as she cuts the ribbon during the facility’s grand re-opening ceremony. – Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record

After closing for 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Caring Place of Hot Springs hosted a grand reopening ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 13.

The respite program for seniors diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia reopened its doors in July 2021 after refreshing the building with a patio and garden area, new paint and the installment of a GPS Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization System, which clears the air of pollutants, dust, allergens, mold, bacteria and viruses including coronavirus.

"We have just worked really hard to make sure that the community knows that we are alive and well and we are open," Nina Alter, the new director of the facility, said.

With over 30 years of experience in senior health care, Alter was named as the director of The Caring Place last month.

"I was familiar with The Caring Place before," she told The Sentinel-Record. "I had been in the senior housing industry and had a lot of residents through the years that would come and visit The Caring Place."

Alter said she understood why some participants and volunteers who visited the facility before the pandemic may be hesitant to return even still. They are taking many precautions including requiring all participants, staff and volunteers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, she said.

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Licensed and regulated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, The Caring Place started out in the basement of the First United Methodist Church in 1992 and moved to its current location at 101 Quapaw Ave. after the church gifted the building to the program, board Chairman Joyce Whitfield said in her opening remarks.

Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe, the president and CEO of Levi Hospital, congratulated The Caring Place's reopening, noting he remembered when the church extended an offer to Levi Hospital to assist in managing The Caring Place.

"We have deep roots there and care for this organization and the mission that they serve," he told the attendees. "These type of programs are so vital. It allows the caregivers for the loved ones at home to get a little bit of rest during the day, to run and do some errands that they might not otherwise be able to do.

"The fact that it was closed for 18 months during COVID just put a lot of stress on those families. We know that a lot of those loved ones that were here 18 months ago are not here today and so we'll reach out to the community and serve and see what that all brings."

The Caring Place had about 25 participants before closing, Alter said, noting the facility now has 13 but is licensed to serve up to 50.

There are activities and meals provided for the participants Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Alter said during the ceremony.

"But most of all, I think what we do is that we nurture those folks and we nurture the family," she said. "The families are trying to provide an environment for these folks who are dealing and suffering with Alzheimer's and dementia and we can step in and have those folks here for the day Monday through Thursday in an environment where they're secure and loved and nurtured."

  photo  Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe addresses the crowd at the Grand Re-opening ribbon-cutting of The Caring Place after the facility was closed for 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic. – Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record
 
 
  photo  Nina Alter, who was named director of The Caring Place last month, talks about spreading awareness that the facility is open after an 18-month closure during the pandemic. – Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record
 
 

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