New Suncoast PACE Day Care Center & Medical Clinic Opens in Pinellas Park

By Karen Wells, Suncoast PACE Executive Director                                                                                                            

Karen Wells

Excitement abounded at our Suncoast PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) day care center and medical clinic official ribbon cutting in Pinellas Park on May 14.

Our Suncoast PACE participants advisory council president, Barbara LeFranc, brought the crowd to tears when she shared what PACE has meant to her. Barbara told us that she felt alone after her sister’s death shortly after they had moved to Florida. Barbara enrolled in PACE, and we have become her family and she ours.

Suncoast PACE board chair Kathryn Hyer (left) 
presents Barbara LeFranc at ribbon cutting

Many other supporters graced our opening, including local and state elected officials and representatives from their offices, individuals from our parent organization Suncoast Hospice and its other affiliates, and others who provide services to the elderly in our community.

Improving Quality of Life

If you haven’t heard about PACE, it’s a nationwide program that’s quite special and different from other programs. PACE provides a wide array of services to individuals who:

• Are ages 55 and older
• Live in a PACE service area (for Suncoast PACE that’s all of Pinellas County)
•  Meet the state standard of being eligible for placement in a nursing home but wish to remain at home or in an assisted living facility

Suncoast PACE Day Care Center

The day care center is the heart and soul of PACE, where the sense of family is born. All PACE participants spend time in the center receiving hearty meals (always within dietary guidelines), socializing with peers, and above all, keeping active.

Generally speaking, PACE participants are Medicare and Medicaid eligible. Once participants are officially enrolled in PACE all of their necessary services (whether medical care, therapies, medications or home care) are authorized by the interdisciplinary team and paid for by PACE. For our Suncoast PACE participants there are no co-pays or deductibles for services, helping them to stretch their incomes a little bit farther each month.

Our Suncoast PACE primary care physician, Dr. Laurence Petty, is on staff and available on site in our medical clinic. We contract with a wide range of specialists in the community in order to ensure the highest quality of medical care.

Without seeing Suncoast PACE’s center and clinic it’s very difficult to fully grasp our capacity to change the life of a frail, older adult. We’re located at 6774 102^nd Ave. N., Pinellas Park.

For information on enrollment or to arrange a tour, please call 727-289-0062. We hope to see you soon.