SANTA MARIA - The Santa Maria Wisdom Center has a new lease on life.
After budget cuts put the Wisdom Center on life support, the adult daycare and healthcare center will now be able to keep its doors open.
"We weren't sure we were going to be here on December 1", says Wisdom Center Director Betsy Whitaker, "so it was a very real threat for us."
Whitaker says the center recouped funding as a beneficiary of a statewide lawsuit and is now a managed care facility with more than 70 clients.
"The partnership with CenCal has opened up a lot of opportunities for us", Whitaker says, "the new eligibility criteria has opened up a lot of possibilities for us in terms of people who can come to the center, so it feels like a new day for us."
"Not only does the Wisdom Center provide social and recreational interaction for its clients but it's the only facility of its kind that also provides medical monitoring."
Many Wisdom Center clients now depend on the wisdom center and its programs.
"Everything from the physical therapist, to the occupational therapist, to the wonderful meals, to the cognitive games, everything", says Wisdom Center client Kathy Boyd.
"Everybody is so pleasant", adds client Art MacCauley, "the people are so friendly, lovable, I like the atmosphere."
Most of the Wisdom Center clients would have had few options had it closed its doors.
"Its really tough to find services in the area for this group of people", Whitaker says, "many of them would have ended up in nursing homes, but nursing home beds are also limited here in this county, so that's a struggle as well."
With its new lease on life, the Wisdom Center says it will look for a larger facility should the demand for its services continue to grow.
