WISE To Break Ground For $3 Million Center

Model, WISE Senior Services Center

Ari L. Noonan

Mirror contributing writer

   WISE Senior Services, a pioneering Santa Monica group that formed when organized care of the elderly became a headline concern in the country during the Sixties, has launched a capital campaign to fund a streamlined adult day care center in the shadow of Santa Monica College.
   Unlike many such facilities, it will be primarily pitched to serving those seniors known as the frail elderly.
   For six years, the center has been without a permanent address.
   Forced into several temporary care facilities since being routed by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, Wise is planning to break ground in the autumn for the $3 million center at 1510 Pico Blvd. Opening is scheduled for 12 months later.
   Standing at $1.8 million in pledges, including a $500,000 grant from the Santa Monica City Council, Wise officials intend to reach $2.4 million by groundbreaking day.
   Maria O. Arechaedarra, the president of Wise, said that the design of the new facility is based on a survey of senior centers around the United States that offer a similar range of programming. She is optimistic that the Pico center will allow Wise to "greatly increase" its client base once word reaches the community with the news that more space and more facilities than ever before are available.
   Currently berthed at Memorial Park, the Wise day care center which is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. caters to dozens of seniors who gather there to relieve loneliness and boredom. 
   Occasionally confused with Stephen S. Wise Temple in the Sepulveda Pass, Wise Senior Services sounds like a logical extension of the huge synagogue's programming. In fact, Wise, founded in 1968 by Helena Hult, is an acronym: Westside Independent Services to the Elderly.
   A service provider for a dozen years before the first Adult Day Care Center was opened in 1980, it now has a $3 million annual budget, fields a team of 70 staffers and has more than 1000 volunteers.
   "Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the population and the most underserved," said Mark A. Groner, the Wise director of development.
Wise leaders believe the 6900-square-foot sleek, low-slung center with a multiple-level roof will become a Westside architectural landmark. Services and programs for seniors and disabled adults 18 years old and up will fill the ground floor, with offices above, and an underground parking garage below. 
   In addition to offering specialized care for the elderly, whether frail or robust, and the disabled, Wise has developed a separate set of social and fitness activities for Spanish-speaking seniors, whom, officials say, have long been isolated from the rest of America's seniors.