Columnist Susan Snyder: Battered center needs salvation

Friday, April 16, 2004 | 4:07 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 17 - 18, 2004

For the Salvation Army's Adult Day Care Center in Henderson, Good Friday was a bad day.

A really bad day.

An employee who noticed something amiss at the center, which was closed for the holiday, led to the discovery that a vandal or vandals had trashed the center from ceiling to floor.

"When we walked in, it was just a disaster area," Isabel Jones, the center's activities director, said. "There was paint all over the walls. Stuff pulled down from the ceiling. We had to completely redecorate."

Computers on which the center's clients learn skills, such as using the Internet and communicating via e-mail, were ripped from their wall sockets and smashed on the floor. Telephones, television sets even the recliners that older people use to stay comfortable were destroyed. Crafts supplies, office supplies -- everything down to the last paper clip, it seemed, was strewn everywhere.

"We were all crying," Jones said. "We's just had our Easter Parade, where all the clients had their bonnets and everything. We had it decorated beautifully for Easter. And they just ripped it off the walls.

"We worked all that weekend -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- to put it back."

They did more than redecorate, the Salvation Army's Maj. William Mulch said.

"Every piece of carpet in here had to be replaced because it was embedded with glass and food and nail polish and fecal matter," Mulch said. "It's just wanton violence. It was just a violent act."

Henderson Police Officer Shane Lewis on Friday said no arrests have been made in the ongoing investigation.

Bill Sampson, the center's director, wasn't in town to comment Friday. But Jones said Sampson worked alongside his employees and volunteers, staying at the center from 6 a.m. Easter Sunday until 6:30 a.m. the following morning to make sure the center was fit to open April 11.

They didn't -- and still don't -- have all the computer equipment needed or some of the special chairs and other items the clients were used to. But Jones said the staff repainted all the walls and worked to make it look as normal as possible because changes in the center's appearance and routine can be highly unsettling to clients with dementia.

"A lot of people spent a lot of time here," she said. "We continued doing what we could with what we had to work with."

The center offers age-appropriate vocational programs for adults with severe developmental disabilities. They learn skills ranging from how to feed themselves to how to use computers. They learn how to interact with others and express their wants and needs to others in addition to acquiring skills that help them learn to enjoy leisure time.

The goal is to help these adults learn as much as they are able so they may live as independently as possible and in the least-restrictive setting.

Most of the cosmetic damage has been repaired, and some of the computer equipment has been replaced by insurance, Mulch said. But cash donations are needed to purchase furniture and other supplies that aren't covered.

Donations may be sent to the Salvation Army Henderson Adult Day Health Care Center, 830 E. Lake Mead Drive, Henderson, NV 89015. Or call 565-8836.