WISE Adult Day Center
Bob was a self-employed motivational speaker. Large
corporations hired him to train their marketing force.
He traveled constantly across the United States and
his wife, Linda, also worked full-time as a professional
social worker. They were raising three children, and
they were actively engaged in their community.
One day 19 years ago, Bob suddenly felt dizzy. It
was the start of a grand mal seizure. After days of
tests, Bob's doctors told him that he had only four
months to live. He suffered from a grade-four glioblastoma-a
brain tumor. Bob decided he had nothing to lose and
he decided to take a very risky, still-experimental
procedure to implant radiation pellets inside his
skull. The experiment turned out successfully. Bob
is now a long-term survivor of brain cancer.
Bob refers to WISE as his
"home away from home."
Although he survived the cancer, Bob suffers disabilities
that came as a result of his treatment. He now has
mental deficiency, brain damage, a type of dementia,
and significant vision loss in both eyes. He can no
longer work, and Linda has been his full-time caregiver
for the last nineteen years. She enrolled Bob at the
WISE Adult Day Service Center to get some regular
respite from her caregiving duties and to provide
Bob with mental and physical stimulation and socialization.
Bob now comes two days a week and Linda attends the
WISE caregiver support group regularly.
Highly social, Bob is the unofficial greeter of
new clients. He welcomes new clients and chats with
them until they are at ease. He refers to WISE Senior
Services as his "home away from home." He
feels comforted being in a place where others deal
with disabilities similar to his. Bob feels a sense
of unity and belongingness at WISE. What he appreciates
most about this environment and community is its atmosphere
of conviviality and acceptance.
