Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 29, 1993 TAG: 9309300293
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"Whatever was going to happen was going to happen," the 22-year-old Williamsburg native said Tuesday, making it clear she had a good time at the pageant despite the competitive pressures.
The 1993 Virginia Tech communications graduate was back at her alma mater Tuesday as guest of honor for the grand opening of the Virginia Tech Adult Day Care Center, the first of its kind in the state.
With the pageant and any lingering regrets behind her, Glisson, an advocate for the elderly, is looking ahead to her reign as Miss Virginia and her self-defined role as "an ambassador" to encourage setting up similar adult care centers across Virginia.
The Virginia Tech center, which officially opened last December, serves about eight regular participants, ages 33 to 103, who need help with daily activities and some supervision during the day when family members are at work.
While still a student, Glisson became acquainted with the center after she was assigned to do a television news report about it for one of her classes. She's been a major booster ever since.
Adult day care is cost-effective and helps keep families together longer, she said.
"It's an investment in family values."
Glisson brought a little of the pageant magic to the day-care participants on hand for the occasion, as she sang "I Will Always Love You."
"You always love your older adults and you do as much as you can for them," she said after the applause.
She hopes eventually to carry her mission on behalf of adult care to the national level and to a public she feels is not aware of the opportunities to provide "a healthy, optimistic alternative" to nursing homes and adult homes. "It's a quality-of-life issue," she said.
Center participants engage in a variety of activities, from tending their own flower and vegetable beds to joining youngsters in the child day-care center next door to play and maybe reminisce about their own younger days.
From time to time, participants also get to play with pets brought in from the community.
"Every activity has therapeutic value," said Center director Puspa Das.
A paid staff of five people plus volunteers and students work with the participants, some of whom have disabilities. Participants pay $25 a day for care, which can be reimbursed by Medicaid for qualified recipients.
In addition to providing a service, Das said, Tech's model center has an equally important role of training future adult-care professionals. The center is equipped with an observation room for students and researchers to view the center's activities without interfering with its daily routine.
Glisson praised the center's homey atmosphere. "It's not an institutionalized environment," she said. "And they're not sitting in front of the TV all day."
Glisson says she sees a bright future for the concept of adult day care, once people get used to the idea and once government and the health care industry support it.
"I can see this really snowballing." With the current attention on health care, Glisson said, she'd jump at the chance to have an audience with either the president or the first lady.
The budding public relations professional also sees a role for herself as the founder of a national organization that focuses on adult care needs and funding.
"I think it can be done," she said. "It affects all of us."
Glisson will return to Virginia Tech Oct. 16 for Homecoming. She's scheduled to take part in a second open house at the Adult Day Care Center on Oct. 28.
by CNB