HONESDALE, PA — Telespond Senior Services, Inc., which was founded in 1974 as a private, non-profit organization assisting the elderly in Lackawanna County, is planning to open an adult daycare center in the Drake Building in Hawley.

The project will be a joint effort in cooperation with the Wayne County Area Agency on Aging (WCAAA). Telespond’s aim is to provide services that “promote the goal of independent living by providing education and advocacy on a community-wide level.”

The announcement was made by Andrea Whyte, human services administrator for WCAAA at the Wayne County commissioner’s meeting on December 10.

The opening date has not yet been set, as the project is still awaiting some capacity issues to be settled with the state. But once it is open, it is anticipated that the center will be open five days a week, from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost to participate in the program will be $65 per day, and that includes two snacks and a meal for lunch.

There are public funding opportunities to help pay for the programs, and it’s expected that a majority of the seniors who use the center will receive some form of public funding.

The program will be for seniors who either live at home alone or with a caregiver and will include exercise and assistance from nurses for those who need help with personal hygiene.

The Telespond website says for its Lackawanna facility, “The objectives of these programs are to prepare and activate older adults to be their own ‘change agents,’ to inform them as to what services were available, what was being done for them, and what they could do for themselves. This effort included the development of a speakers’ bureau and resource center, a retail discount program, a newspaper for and about senior citizens, technical assistance and a base of operations for senior citizens groups… and a series of regional education seminars.”