LEWISTON — The Maine Veterans’ Homes hope to fill a niche by providing adult day health care to as many as 70 local veterans and their spouses.

Eventually, eligible people in the Lewiston-Auburn area will be given daytime medical treatment, activities and meals for two to five days each week, Kelley Kash, chief operating officer of the Maine Veterans’ Homes, said.

But first, the Maine Legislature needs to act.

Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, has sponsored a bill that would create the Lewiston center as a model for others to eventually open around Maine.

“There is no adult day care in Lewiston-Auburn,” Craven said Monday. One was located at Clover Manor in Auburn but it has since closed. “I wish there was a private service available.”

If approved, the center would open on Challenger Drive, on the same property currently being developed for a VA-run community-based outreach clinic.

Supporters of the clinic are expected to hold an official groundbreaking for the clinic in a few weeks. When finished, that 30,000-square-foot facility will offer a variety of outpatient services to veterans dealing with issues ranging from chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes to mental health problems.

The day health care center would be smaller, about 6,000 square feet with facilities for recreation, meals and personal hygiene, Kash said.

Transportation would be provided by the center. Once people arrive, there would be counseling on nutrition and food preparation. They might make an appointment with a barber or beautician or merely visit with some of the other people, whom Kash referred to as “registrants.”

Hired personnel would include nurses and aides, an administrator and social workers. Kash predicted that employment would eventually reach the equivalent of 10 to 12 full-time jobs.

Building the Maine Veterans’ Homes center would cost about $3 million, he said.

Costs would be paid from Medicare and other insurances and hopefully save money over the rising price of nursing home care.

People who attend the center would be able to maintain a traditional home life with family and sleep in their own bed. However, the center would give caregivers a break.

It would also give the 35-year-old nonprofit organization a role in Lewiston-Auburn, an area that Kash believes is underserved. By law, his organization cannot build a home within 30 miles of another Maine Veterans Home. There are six in Maine, including facilities in Augusta, Paris and Scarborough.

“With this center, we get to serve veterans in Lewiston,” Kash said.

For that, Craven said she is thankful.

The state senator said she recently talked with a Lewiston man who must drive his wife to Topsham daily for adult day care.

“It’s such a big inconvenience,” she said. “We need alternatives.”

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