Budget cuts will force Douglas County Senior Services to close the adult day care program that has been open since 1980.

“These are people that spent their whole lives in this community. They have raised their families here,” said John Glassman, director for senior services. “They have paid taxes here all these years, and now something like this needs to be taken away, when they need it, and that’s just a very hard thing to do for anyone in this business.

“No one likes doing it. No one likes making these kinds of decisions, but that’s where we are.”

For 2009, Douglas County commissioners approved $49,000 less for Senior Services than the agency had requested. Commissioners made cuts to social service agencies and most county departments because revenues were flat or down and operating costs increased.

The day care program allows families and caregivers to bring seniors to spend the day or a few hours to be involved in activities with licensed staff members. It can give caregivers an opportunity to go to work, run errands or have a break.

It also keeps seniors from having to be put in nursing homes, Glassman said.

Karen Crusinbery found out Tuesday that her 85-year-old mother, Arleen, would soon be unable to attend the sessions four days a week. Crusinbery said her mother, who suffers from dementia, thrived in the social environment.

Arleen Crusinbery moved in with her daughter three years ago, and initially caregivers would spend time with her while her daughter was at her job at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“I think the activity and all has helped,” Karen Crusinbery said.

But now the family will have to go back to the old arrangement.

The program received funding from grants, Medicaid and the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging, but the reduced county funding would cut into operations, Glassman said.

Eight seniors currently participate in the program that will end Oct. 1. It was licensed to handle up to 14.

The center’s leaders said they cut the program instead of making deeper cuts into transportation and food services, which affect hundreds of seniors each day. Glassman said Senior Meals volunteers are often the only people who can check on older clients at their homes during the day.

“Frankly, it just further exacerbates the problem because then they begin having health issues, and it just begins this cycle. Transportation is the same way,” he said.

The agency will help the three staff members find jobs in the community or with senior services for future openings, Glassman said.