All posts by : Dave Lin

The ACC Senior Services Blue Ribbon Committee was formed to steward the research and decision making for ACC’s skilled nursing care and, specifically, the future of the ACC Care Center.  We are working with the Fox Group to put together the best plan for the Care Center.

In the meantime, our Capital Campaign donors have helped ACC fulfilled dozens of commitments, strengthening our innovative legacy of improving the quality of life for our community’s older residents at the ACC Care Center.

Many of you gave in response to the $500,000 match challenge gift by Art and Barbara Tom. So, thank you! Your gifts not only benefit our seniors but their community of family, friends, and neighbors whose lives are intertwined with theirs.

ACC Senior Services is fortunate to have a diverse Board of Directors comprised of people from healthcare, government, private enterprise, and community leadership. Some have been family caregivers at one time or another.

This summer, they will lead the development of a new Five-Year Strategic Plan for ACC. It’s our chance to dream big but plan realistically.

So much has changed in the area of aging, not just how we provide care, but also how we look at the social aspects and meaning of “getting old.” The vast majority of people over 70 are not sick or bedridden. That means we need to keep them active, healthy, and out of isolation. One thing is for sure: the “silver tsunami” has a lot of stored energy and ACC is right in front of it!

That is why, as our Board develops the Plan, they will solicit input from clients, employees, volunteers, and other community stakeholders. We look forward to your input.

ACC Maple Tree Village is scheduled to open late this year. If you travel on I-5 near the Pocket Road exit, it’s hard to miss “MTV” rising out the ground. It’s a beautiful building, and we commend Reeve-Knight Construction for their work.

We also want to welcome our new Administrator, Kyle Fredrickson, who has done a great job in moving our resident application process and care policies forward. For more information and to get on the MTV Reservation List, visit this page.

Respectfully,

Winston Ashizawa
President
ACC Senior Services

Darrick Lam
CEO
ACC Senior Services

If you type “Pickleball Sacramento” in Google’s search bar, it may come as no surprise that the first result in the Google Maps directory is ACC Senior Services. This may be because ACC is home to some of the first ever pickleball courts in Sacramento, and also a popular gathering place for longtime and beginner players alike.

“We get people from everywhere vacationing or visiting Sacramento calling to ask where they can play pickleball,” said Program Director Linda Revilla. We went from three to four courts just to keep up with the demand. There are even people in their 80’s and 90’s playing.”

Revilla believes the sport is popular in the community because it allows players to get good exercise, meet new friends, and learn a fun new hobby.

Revilla shared a personal example of pickleball’s ability to attract new enthusiasts: “My friends played pickleball once and they went out that night and bought pickleball equipment. They were hooked after the first time.”

Program Assistant Anna Su agrees, and admits she occasionally takes breaks to see pickleball matches. “Sometimes I go outside to watch the players because it’s fun to watch,” she said. “People get addicted to it!”

With features similar to tennis, ping-pong, and badminton, the pickleball craze shows no signs of slowing down. Although the sport was created in 1965, a 2018 AARP report states that pickleball is one of America’s fastest growing sports, and found that players experienced positive health benefits like lower levels of depression and improved blood pressure.

Throughout Sacramento and many parts of the country, it’s common to see municipal tennis courts alternatively used as pickleball courts, just by making simple temporary changes to the lines or nets.

Despite its current popularity, pickleball has only been at ACC for a few years and will begin its fifth season this March. Sunny Jung, Heman Lee, and Jeannie Fong were among the first volunteers to help establish pickleball at ACC, and have seen the impact it has made on the ACC community.

In 2015, Jung, Lee, Fong, and a few other dedicated volunteers were instrumental in helping ACC receive a grant from the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) to build its first courts. Led by an all-volunteer effort, ACC’s pickleball courts were ready for action once lines were painted, equipment was purchased, and clinics were organized.

Clinics are especially important because they introduce new and interested people to the sport, and the instructors strongly emphasize that pickleball is more about enjoying oneself than being competitive. “Our focus has always been to teach people how to play the game, socialize, and have fun, said Jung, who organizes and leads many of the clinics alongside Gary Elias Berg, another longtime player. “Even if you played little to no sports growing up, it’s a very easy game to learn. You can learn to play in a matter of minutes.” Jung adds that pickleball is not an intimidating or high-impact sport, especially because the average game only lasts about ten to fifteen minutes. “You may find pickleball is less stressful on your body,” he said.

To usher in the new season, the next ACC Pickleball clinic will take place on March 15, 2019, at 12:30 p.m in the ACC Community Room. The clinic will provide an overview and brief history of the sport, and attendees will get a chance to see tutorials and have one-on-one time with skilled pickleball players.

But for those who cannot make the clinic, new players are always welcome on the court. Drop-in sessions are on Wednesday and Friday mornings beginning March 20, and only cost $3 for three hours, which covers equipment on loan. Session schedules are dependent on weather, so it’s important to call ACC Programs on rainy days to check whether times are subject to change. There will also be a pickleball tournament at ACC’s Big Day of Giving Party on May 2, 2019, where players will showcase their skills on the courts.

Jung and Fong encourage others try pickleball because along with physical fitness, new friendships and great team camaraderie are bonuses. “We have potlucks and socials,” said Fong. “It’s just a very social group. You meet people who will leave an imprint in your heart for life.”

For more information on ACC Pickleball, including schedules and clinics, contact ACC Programs at (916) 393-9026. To donate to ACC Pickleball, please write a check to “ACC Pickleball” and mail it to ACC Senior Services, 7334 Park City Drive, Sacramento, CA 95831. Donations to ACC Pickleball go towards maintenance and repairs of ACC’s pickleball courts and equipment.

​Picketball Terminology

From www.pickleballportal.com

Ace: A serve that is not returned by the opponent. Point is won on serve without being returned.

Dink Shot: A soft that arcs over the net and falls into the opposing non-volley zone.

Doubles: Pickleball game played between 4 people (2 on each team). Teams can be men, women or mixed doubles.

Overhead Shot: Any shot hit where the paddle starts high above your head and drives downward, similar to the motion of a tennis serve.​

Serve: An underhand stroke used to put the pickleball into play. Serving team has two attempts to serve the point. ​Paddle must contact the ball under the server’s waist level.

Volley: Hitting the ball in the air before the ball has a chance to bounce onto the pickleball court.

Kitchen: The non-volley zone on either side of the net. If you are standing in the kitchen, you must let the ball bounce before hitting it.

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Art & Barbara Tom, the ACC Senior Services Capital Campaign is 67% of the way towards the $3 million goal. Their $500,000 matching gift and the $500,000 raised from hundreds of other households raised $1,000,000.  The campaign pledges and gifts to date total $2,018,819 and 97% of the pledges to date have been fulfilled.

The $1 million contributed through the matching gift remains dedicated to the ACC Care Center transformation project.  ACC is currently engaged with the Fox Group in a market study the results of which will guide the decision making for the future of skilled nursing care at the ACC Care Center. To date, Capital Campaign gifts have helped renovate the ACC Senior Services campus at 7334 Park City Drive, funded the conversion of the assisted living units at Greenhaven Terrace and helped pave the way for Maple Tree Village.

Thanks to everyone – all 2,491 gifts and pledge donors – who have supported the Capital Campaign through each of the phases since its launch in 2013.   The promise of assisted living and memory care at Maple Tree Village will be fulfilled in the next year followed  by the vision for the ACC Care Center.

ACC is the Sacramento County office for the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), a federally-funded program specifically targeting older adults who seek employment assistance and job training.

Operating under the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), SCSEP assists program participants who receive on-the-job training and career development at host agencies, which include other nonprofits and government offices. SCSEP Program Manager Dave Lin said, “We have had a very steady interest in SCSEP,” he said. “We usually have about 100 people on our waiting list at any given time.”

While there are currently over 50 host agencies that work with SCSEP participants, Lin states that there are unique challenges that affect older adults finding successful employment. Among these barriers is the lack of transportation. For many seniors, simply getting to a job site or interview is a hurdle that can hinder finding work.

According to a 2009 report released by the National Coalition for the Homeless, 25 percent of homeless people cite lack of transportation as a major barrier to finding employment. A similar 2015 AARP study determined that even in metropolitan cities with populations of 250,000 to 1 million people, 61 percent of seniors have poor access to reliable transportation.

SCSEP hopes that providing bus passes for program participants will help them get to their respective host agencies or interviews, and reduce the stress that often comes with job hunting. Lin also hopes that the program will continue to help older adults develop valuable work skills. “What I would like to see is an increase in the number of participants we are able to serve,” he said.

How to help: A $50 donation would provide one monthly bus pass to a SCSEP participant and help him or her get to a job training site or interview. To donate, please make checks payable to ACC Senior Services and write “SCSEP donation” on the check memo or mailing envelope. You can mail your donation to ACC or donate online at www.accsv.org, where you can also find more information about the SCSEP program.

On Nov. 6, 2018, ACC volunteer Carol Ichiho was recognized at the 2018 Heroes of Human Services Awards, a ceremony honoring those who have shown outstanding commitment to the community through advocacy and service. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and Human Services Coordinating Council hosted this event, and Board Supervisor Patrick Kennedy (District 2) personally presented the award to Ms. Ichiho.

As a volunteer at ACC for over 12 years, Ms. Ichiho credits ACC’s positive environment and fellow volunteers and staff as reasons for her ongoing dedication to ACC. She said, “I’m surrounded by friendly and happy people and that’s what keeps me coming back.”

November was National Family Caregivers Month, a time celebrating the contributions of family members who support their loved ones in their medical needs and conditions. Since ACC provides year-round support and resources for caregivers, ACC Programs celebrated National Family Caregivers Month by hosting events that recognized the importance of family caregivers and their commitment to providing care and support for aging or ill loved ones.

Among these events was a free film screening co-sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association and granted in part by the APIs Rise fund. Viewers watched “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me,” a documentary following late country singer Glen Campbell and his struggles with Alzheimer’s disease. Following the film screening, ACC Program Director Linda Revilla, Ph.D., moderated a panel that featured medical and social professionals, as well as a family caregiver who shared her personal experiences.

The panel discussed the unique issues family caregivers often face in assisting their loved ones with day-to-day living or medical tasks. According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, about 65.7 million people in America regularly provide unpaid care to an aging or ill family member. This number is expected to rise with the aging population in America and a projected increase in Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses.

Soojin Yoo, MSW, is the Care Coordinator of ACC’s Bridge to Healthy Families program, which provides caregiving support services for family caregivers and their care receivers. As one of the panelists, she said, “One thing I think of is how lonely it can be to care for someone with this disease. In this culture, independence is highly regarded, and many people feel like their life is just going to go downhill, so they suffer in loneliness.”

A panelist, Kathleen Yee, shared her story of caring for her husband Ben, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2012. According to Yee, her husband simply thought he was “just getting old and forgetful,” but the stress of caregiving often felt overwhelming for her. “At first I felt totally lost about where to find help and resources and who to talk to,” Yee said.

Along with taking family caregiver informational classes, Yee also found solace in attending support groups, where she met others who had similar family situations. And as a caregiver, she quickly recognized the importance of self-care. “I realized I needed respite,” she said, “even just for a few hours a week.”

ACC’s Bridge to Healthy Families program currently offers monthly family caregiver support groups, along with other various caregiving support services that include care assessments, consultations, management, and educational programs.

Another ACC program specifically designed for caregiver respite is ACC’s Friendly Visitor/In-Home Respite Service. This program is part of Legacy Corps and is overseen by Americorps. For a few hours each week, Legacy Corps volunteers visit the care receivers while their caregivers take a break and spend some time outside the house.

ACC carefully screens and recruits Legacy Corps volunteers and provides training on caregiver respite. In addition, Legacy Corps volunteers receive a stipend and an educational award once they complete 450 service hours within a year.

While Legacy Corps volunteers cannot provide any skilled medical, health, or mobility-related services usually provided by a CNA or RN, they can offer conversation and light activities like making art, playing board games, or watching movies.

Chris Leal is currently a Legacy Corps volunteer in the Friendly Visitor program. Leal, a gerontology student at Sacramento State University, felt compelled to join because of his previous experiences in caregiving. “Caregivers face many challenges with caring for another and their personal needs may sometimes be ignored,” said Leal. “I felt it was a great opportunity for me to give back to the local community.”

Leal visits a couple of families a week, and finds joy in the service he provides. He said, “I really enjoy hearing stories about their past, and I enjoy learning as much as I can from them.”

Currently, Friendly Visitors serve the following areas: Downtown Sacramento, Land Park, South Land Park, Pocket/Greenhaven, South Sacramento, and parts of Elk Grove. To receive respite services from the Friendly Visitor program, caregiving families pay a fee of $10 an hour, usually with a 60-90 minute minimum, and are billed at the end of every month of service. Priority is given to veterans and their families.

ACC Program Director Linda Revilla emphasized the importance of caregivers practicing simple self-care. She said, “I recall working with a caregiver who said that all she wanted to do was go see a movie. Just a few hours a week so she could feel like ‘her’ again.”

How to help: Donations of just $10 would provide caregivers an hour of respite in the Friendly Visitor Program. To donate, please make checks payable to ACC Senior Services and write “Friendly Visitor Donation” on the check memo or mailing envelope. You can mail your donation to ACC or donate online at www.accsv.org, where you can also find more information about caregiver support and resources at ACC.

As calming nature sounds filled the room, Jeffrey Greenstein, a Sacramento Public Library volunteer, passed around a plush black bear for ACC Care Center residents.

“This is one of our less popular animals with humans at Yosemite,” he said.

Upon receiving the bear, resident Mary Endicott’s face lit up. “Oh I have one of these!” she said.

Tina Ross, another resident, smiled and said, “I’ve seen a bear before at Triple S Camp.” She then described her camping experience to the other residents as they looked at photos and books together.

Every season, Sacramento Public Library volunteers like Jeffrey bring these kinds of experiences to the ACC Care Center. They are part of Tales and Travel Memories, an acclaimed nationally recognized library program that engages nursing home residents on an hour long imaginary trip to a popular travel destination. This imaginary trip is made possible through stories, music, objects, and photos of the selected destination. On this day, it’s Yosemite Valley, but in the past, destinations have included Hawaii and San Francisco.

“A lot of the residents have been to Yosemite,” said ACC Activities Assistant Kathie Williams, “so it’s taking them back to memories and back to happy times with their families.”

Top Image: Sacramento Public Library Assistant Cathy Jackson shows residents Elaine Highsmith and Inez Crenshaw a diagram of a bear. Left Image: resident Katherine Chin looks at a pine cone with grandson Brandon and ACC Activities Assistant Sirin Tang, Right Image: volunteer Jeffrey Greenstein shows resident Mary Endicott a type of rock commonly found in Yosemite.

Cathy Jackson, a Library Assistant at the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven branch, emphasized the importance of the program: “The mission is to really connect with a portion of our local community that doesn’t have access to our resources. It provides an opportunity for the participants to be connected, and we’ve noticed that when we discuss these destinations, it unlocks their memories and brings them to the surface.”

This was especially true when residents had a chance to hold and look at objects that could be found at Yosemite, like pine cones and different kinds of rocks. As Endicott looked at a rock and studied its color and texture, she said to activities assistant Sirin Tang, “I had these on my front porch for years.”

Brandon Chin was able to share this experience with his grandmother Katherine Chin, an ACC Care Center resident. Although Chin lives in San Diego, he visits her at the Care Center almost every day when he is in the area.

He said, “This is my first time seeing this program. I think it’s great, especially since they have all these different objects to interact with.”

Tales and Travel Memories has become a staple program for many libraries across the country, including Sacramento Public Library, although Jackson said only a handful of branches are actively implementing the program. In 2017, Tales and Travel Memories was recognized as a Library of Congress Best Practices Honoree, and resources for both librarians and caregivers are available online at http://talesandtravelmemories.com.

Although Jackson and the library volunteers enjoy the hour they spend with the Care Center residents, their goal is to be able to visit more often, which can be done with more volunteers.

“We would love for volunteers to join Tales and Travel Memories,” she said. “It’s really a great way to give back to the community. With more volunteers, the participants can have more one-on-one time.”

Williams said she enjoys seeing how happy the residents are when the Sacramento Public Library volunteers come: “It’s like family coming to visit. They get revitalized.”

May 2018 was Older Americans Month, a national observance which celebrates senior citizens around the country and the importance of community programs that serve them.

This year’s theme, “Engage at Every Age,” was enacted by the Administration of Community Living (which operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

This theme emphasized that a person is, “Never too old (or too young) to take part in activities that can enrich your physical, mental and emotional well-being.”

Here at ACC, the Lifelong Learning and Wellness Program (LLWP) aims to improve the quality of life and the quality of aging for seniors in the community by offering an array of classes and activities. Several of the most popular classes involve music and dance.

Glenn Watanabe, who has taught music at ACC for several years, reflects on the early years of the ACC music program. In January 2009, Glenn taught the very first ACC Beginning Ukulele Class. Prior to that, instrumental music at ACC was virtually nonexistent.

“Except for the Chinese Opera Singing Class, there was no ACC music program per se,” he said. “The graduates from the first class enjoyed playing together so much that we formed ACC’s first ukulele performing group, the Pocket Pickers, in May [2009].”
Since then, four more ukulele clubs and performing groups have been created, along with two guitar groups: Guitar Ensemble and the Folk Guitar Club.

Recently, the Guitar Ensemble welcomed a new member: ACC CEO Darrick Lam. Mr. Lam performed with the Guitar Ensemble group for the first time last April at an ACC Greenhaven Terrace meet-and-greet event. Together, the group sang songs from genres that ranged from 1970s folk rock to contemporary hits.

“It’s fun to be with the Guitar Ensemble,” Mr. Lam said. “We gel very well together. It’s just a good way to spend Wednesday evening with very talented and fun musicians.”

Having been trained in classical music since childhood, Mr. Lam believes in the power of music and its effectiveness in creating new bonds. “Music is a universal language,” he said. “Music helps people come out and be part of a large group, even in an hour’s time. That’s crucial.”

A recent study came to a similar conclusion. In 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts released a report that showed how participatory arts programs, including music, benefits older adults’ mental, physical, and social health, regardless of a person’s skill level.

Watanabe also emphasized the importance of music in building positive lifelong skills and habits for older adults, especially connecting with each other: “What I enjoy most is that the participants in these groups are getting out and about, learning new music and performing skills. They’re socializing and are giving back to our communities by performing at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.”

ACC’s music groups have also performed at Meals on Wheels Cafe sites, church functions, community and government events, and their special performances include museum events and WWII Relocation Camp reunions.

Lois Nishimura, a participant in ACC’s music program for nine years, is an active member of ACC music clubs like the ACC Pocket Pickers, Folk Guitar Club, Aunty Amy’s Hula, and the Show Stoppers. However, she states that music was absent for most of her life.

“I knew nothing about music before I came to ACC,” she said. “I was so busy raising my kids. But now they’ve grown, and it’s my time to learn.”

Watanabe recalls witnessing memorable and touching moments for an ACC music participant: “A member of the ACC Greenhaven Terrace and Happy Strummers Ukulele and Singing Club cried when she saw how happy their music made participants of Triple-R Program (Sacramento’s licensed adult day program) feel.”

As a participant in ACC’s music program, Nishimura understands the anxiety common among people who are learning a new skill, or have no musical background. Her advice to new participants or those interested in ACC Music is to just have fun and be open to the opportunity of learning.

“You’ve got to try at least one time,” she said. “We always help each other. We’re all growing together here.”