Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 20, 1993                   TAG: 9307200142
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VA DAY CARE CENTERS BRIDGE GENERATIONS WITH SPIDERS, HUGS

It is hard to tell who loves this minute of pandemonium more - the children who race from wheelchair to rocker, or the old folk who embrace their tiny friends with graceful tenderness.

"They all just like me," said Ronald Witt, an 82-year-old great-grandfather from Salem. He grinned mischievously. "I think they like my face."

Each day for an hour, children at the child care center spend time with residents of the Adult Care Center of the Roanoke Valley Inc., located just one building away on the VA grounds.

It is called "intergenerational" learning - a concept that has been in vogue for the past decade or so - and only three weeks into the program at the VA Medical Center, officials say it is working well.

"I've been very surprised," said Jeanette Barbour, program director of the child care center. "There has been a positive response from both groups."

The child care center, decorated in the popular "Barney" dinosaur colors of green, purple and cream, opened June 28 under the auspices of the Greenvale School.

Greenvale, one of the first child care centers in Southwest Virginia, has mixed the generations at its main facility on Westwood Boulevard Northwest and the Liberty Road Northeast branch of the Adult Care Center for at least five years, said Sandra Carroll, Greenvale's director.

It is up to the adults to determine how often they want to visit the child care center at the VA, said Annette Clark, adult director. The children pay visits to the elderly who cannot make the walk to the child center.

"We tried to rotate people every day," she said. "I want everyone to experience the center."

The hour with the children is a special time for Jean Mitchell, who spent many years caring for youngsters as a teacher and volunteer at Greenvale.

Now attending the adult day care center, the 84-year-old Mitchell relishes the noisy play of the children, who race up to her with a net of plastic spiders or a game to share.

"It just lifts me up," said Mitchell, who lives with her stepdaughter in Botetourt County. "I love children so much."

Employees of the two centers have planned picnics and field trips for the future. Next week, the children will accompany the adults to the VA garden to harvest beans and tomatoes.

The child care center has 16 children ages 2 1/2 to 5 enrolled and has room for 40, Carroll said. There are plans to expand into an adjacent wing and eventually accept infants.

Although the center will primarily serve employees of the VA hospital, there will be openings for children from the community, she said. The adult care center is open to the entire community.

With the addition of the child care center, the Salem medical complex becomes the first VA medical center in the country to provide both adult care and child care on site, officials said.