Happy New Year! It’s good to see that the vaccine and continuing safety measures have allowed us to get out of the house, socialize, and travel again. At ACC, we are slowly resuming in-person activities, classes, and workshops. We are also gearing up to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Indeed, there is much to be happy about in the new year!
Once again, we are happy to share the ACC Care Center has been named one of the “Best Nursing Homes in the U.S for 2021-2022” by U.S. News and World Report. The Care Center is among the elite 13% of 15,000 nursing homes that are designated as “High Performance.” This year’s rating factored in COVID-19 vaccination rates, infection control violations, resident safety, and prevention of ER visits. COVID-19 changed the field quite a lot. According to the report, “a significant percentage of Short-Term Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care programs that would otherwise have qualified as ‘High-Performing’ were downgraded at the time of publication.” Congratulations to Administrator Tamara Kario and the ACC Care Center Team. The pandemic has challenged ACC to reimagine the delivery of services, not just skilled nursing and assisted living, but the other “lifelong services” that older adults need. This includes social services, health and fitness programs, transportation, nutrition, and caregiver support.
The demand for these services is increasing as people live longer and their caregivers, many of them seniors themselves, reach a point where they need relief. Many of us have been caregivers or are caregivers today.
In response, we reorganized ACC Programs into ACC Home and Community Based Services. One of its first initiatives was to bring online classes and workshops into people’s homes via livestreaming on YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom. To date, we have livestreamed more than 600 class sessions, workshops, and concerts. Under the direction of Program Administrator Jeri Shikuma, the program recently received a $7,500 grant from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, as well as $1,000 sponsorships from Bruce Yoshida, Dr. Leland Lee, and Russell and Mira Nakano to fund production costs. Let’s keep those sponsorships coming!
In addition, ACC is committed to expanding its services through a “no wrong door” approach. This person-centered framework provides seniors with a Care Navigator that will offer short-term case management services. In coordination with County and other nonprofit providers, ACC will provide direct services to older adults in Sacramento who require assistance with food, transportation, housing, health care, interpretation services, long-term care planning, and employment opportunities. Planning is in place to hire a full-time social worker/navigator to staff the Care Navigation Program. This individual will provide direct services to older adults and enable them to access services in the areas mentioned above so that they will be able to maintain their health and independence in their own homes.
2022 is the 50th Anniversary of ACC Senior Services. To begin the celebration, we launched the ACC History Project, a series of presentations that examine key developments in ACC’s history. The recent ones covered the development of the Asian Community Nursing Home and the history of ACC Bingo. The next episode is “From One Became Many,” scheduled for February 21 at 2 PM. Hosted by May O. Lee, it will look at all the community organizations that spun off from ACC. There are many! You can register by going to accsv.org/online.
We are excited to share ACC is planning a 50th Anniversary golf tournament, several concerts, cooking shows, and the Big Day of Giving Telethon in May. The official 50th Anniversary celebration event is planned for this fall along with a new event, a walkathon for everyone of all ages to enjoy. The Co-Chairs for the 50th Anniversary are Gloria Imagire, Lori Lee, Jean Shiomoto, and Kala Haley-Clark. We are also planning retro events such as bingo and the craft and bake sale. Keep a lookout for many fun events! We want to thank Michael Yang, ACC’s IT Specialist, for designing the 50th Anniversary logo and Greg Mar for donating his graphic design skills to professionally digitize the design.
We want to thank Chiang Wang, who has given so much to ACC, for his service as our Vice Chair of the Board. Tim Corcoran will be the new Vice Chair beginning in 2022. We also want to thank Joyce Iseri, whose term ends, for serving on our Board for six years, most recently as the Board Secretary. Betty Masuoka will be the new Board Secretary. Finally, we want to welcome Brent Luu as our newest Board member.
As we enter 2022, we want to thank the ACC staff, donors, supporters, and all our volunteers for supporting ACC and keeping ACC’s momentum going through 2021, a challenging year. Our 50-year history has shown ACC’s resiliency, compassion, and vision that have been passed down for more than three generations. These are the qualities of ACC that will continue to carry us through the next 50 years.
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