NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT
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Geriatrician Dr. Laura Beringer checks the heart rate of James Coats. What
sets the Kane Center apart from other senior centers is its on-site clinic.
everyone so we have had to be more reliant on our own fundraising
to provide services to the community,” says Christopher
Collier, executive chef at the Kane Center. There are
currently more than 50 people on a waiting list and the federal
sequester has cut the Meals on Wheels funding by $35,000.
“We are so heavily reliable on volunteers that without them
we could not operate,” Collier says. Occasionally, Kane staffers
fill in on their lunch hours to get the meals to individuals
and other senior centers. “I enjoy what I do because I know
I’m going to be that way soon,” says Robert Martens, a 14-
year paid part-time driver for the program. “I enjoy working
with people to make them feel good. I will continue to do it
until I can’t do it anymore.”
Centrally located on Salerno Road, the 34,000-square-foot
building is within 10 miles of the vast majority of the 44,000
seniors who live in Martin County. You don’t have to be a
member to come to the center, but the $50 annual fee gives
discounts on the host of programs offered. At the nonprofit
Kane Center, seniors enjoy poker, needlepoint, Scrabble, chess,
mahjong, tai chi and Zumba. Classes are offered in watercolor
painting, photography, tap dancing and computers.
With its universal design, every square foot of the building
is accessible with wide hallways for wheelchairs and railings
for frail seniors. There are no thresholds and the floors
are nonreflective to be easy on seniors’ eyes. Before it was
designed, council leaders went around the state to see other
centers and cutting-edge assisted living facilities.
“The building had to speak young,” says Barbara Kauffman,
president and CEO of the Council on Aging. “If you don’t create
the atmosphere of joy, people don’t want to come in. Our
town center is beautiful. The flooring and paint are designed to
be inviting. This is not a highly hospital-like setting.”
The town center has a bistro, rooms for art displays, game
rooms and comfortable couches and tables for people as they
wait for clinic appointments.
The Kane Center was built to serve as a hurricane shelter
for its clients, complete with a generator to run the facility.
Kennels can be home to 50 dogs. In a separate room are14
kitty condos.
What sets the Kane Center apart from other senior centers
is its on-site clinic with doctors and nurses, who specialize in
gerontology. “They do an entire geriatric assessment to allow
treatment in a holistic way,” says Kauffman. “It’s more than >>
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