Covenant Senior Day Program reaches milestone

A day program  in Portage for area senior citizens was a good idea when it opened and it’s still a good idea 15 years later.

Covenant Senior Day Program was one of the first of its kind in the state of Michigan when it opened its doors in St. Michael’s Lutheran Church.

As a result of the reputation Covenant built up over the years, it was featured in a 2009 Public Television series called “The Art of Aging,” which focused on issues affecting older adults, says Lauren Fitzmaurice, executive director of Covenant, at 7211 Oakland Drive.  

The program is available to senior citizens living in parts of St. Joseph and Van Buren counties and in Kalamazoo County, as far east as Galesburg and Richland. At Covenant, health needs are monitored by a registered nurse on staff. Transportation can be arranged by the family or by Covenant.

“I see our mission as really reaching out and serving the entire family unit,” Fitzmaurice says. “When we provide support to working parents, we’re truly serving the children as well because parents are less stressed and they have time to sit down and really help with things like homework. The key in an era of the sandwich generation is that they’re caring for their parents and they’re needing to parent themselves.”

On any given weekday, Covenant cares for about 25 seniors, ranging in age from 50 to 100 years old. They come in for all or part of the day.

“We believe the caregiver and senior should be in charge of their own schedule,” Fitzmaurice says.

While many of these older adults have dementia or memory loss issues, Fitzmaurice says she and her staff and volunteers also work with people who simply need some support.

Writer: Jane Parikh
Source: Lauren Fitzmaurice, Covenant Senior Day Program