Adult day services
Adult day is essential aging infrastructure. It’s time we treated it that way.
An adult day center provides a meal, social connection, meaningful engagement, exercise, health monitoring, and several hours of respite for a family caregiver.
I have developed a national program of research bringing scientific rigor, quality measures, technology, and data infrastructure to adult day services.
The gap
People often think of adult day centers as dancing and dominoes. But they are so much more than that.
They keep people at home and out of hospitals and nursing homes. I am building the data infrastructure to prove it.
These programs support people living with dementia, disability and complex chronic conditions. They help people remain at home, and they are a lifeline for the families caring for them.
Yet nationally we still cannot say with confidence who adult day serves, what constitutes high-quality care, or which outcomes matter most.
The program
I study it. I build for it. I bring it into communities.
Study
Measure what matters
Nutrition, function, engagement, belonging, meaning and purpose, caregiver outcomes, and other indicators of whether people are actually thriving.
Study → Build
Build the evidence
The research and data infrastructure needed to understand adult day services nationally.
Implement
Turn evidence into better care
Practical solutions — including technology, AI-enabled nutrition assessment, and person-centered approaches — that can be implemented in real-world settings.
National scope
I work with the adult day community, not simply in it
The research committee I co-chair is national, and the partnerships that carry the work run through the state associations that represent adult day providers.
National
National Adult Day Services Association
State associations
Tennessee Association of Adult Day Services
California Association of Adult Day Services
NY Association for Adult Day Services
The infrastructure question
What if we knew as much about adult day as we know about nursing homes?
- Nursing homes
- National datasets make it possible to study populations, quality, utilization and outcomes at scale.
- Adult day
- No comparable infrastructure exists.
Part of my work is building the foundation to change that. The goal is not simply another research study, but building infrastructure that can advance the field nationally.
What a day contains
This is healthcare, too
Each of these is a meaningful component of care, and quality measures need to be sophisticated enough to capture them.
A meal
Social connection
Meaningful engagement
Exercise
Health monitoring
Several hours of respite for a family caregiver
A case study
Take something as basic as lunch.
One meal simultaneously involves nutrition, culture, identity, independence, social connection and health.
Reimagining how we support nutrition in older adults by shifting the focus from what is served to what is actually consumed. That is what my nutrition and AI research sets out to measure — and then to improve.
Why this work
The community is my clinic
I meet people where they are, not where the system expects them to be. Adult day centers are one of the places older adults actually are — which is why they sit at the center of this work rather than at its edge.
I believe that the strongest healthcare systems are built in communities. From my own backyard to organizations across the country, I am committed to supporting programs that help children, older adults, and families facing serious chronic illness live healthier, more connected lives. Whether serving on nonprofit boards, advising national organizations, or partnering with state associations, I strive to ensure that research translates into meaningful policy, stronger community-based services, and better care for vulnerable populations.
Boards
CACFP Roundtable
Better nutrition for kids and adults in day care settings.
MJHS
Elderplan and HomeCare — strategy for NYC’s older adult population, particularly Medicaid beneficiaries.
For providers and organizations
There is a way in
If you run or represent an adult day program, I would like to hear from you. There are three ways to be part of this.
Take part in research
Join a study as a participating program.
Contribute to the national data effort
Help build the infrastructure the field does not yet have.
See what is underway
The current adult day studies, with every citation.