MANSFIELD — Richland County voters will be asked to vote on the fate of Dayspring Assisted Living and Care Facility, on May 8.
The facility is seeking a renewal of its 0.8 mil levy, which last year allowed it to pay off its facility expenses.
The only publicly funded assisted living facility in the area uses 71 percent of the tax money it receives for operations, said Dayspring Executive Director Michelle Swank.
“Most nursing homes or assisted living communities are for profit,” Swank said. “That means they are usually run for corporations.”
Dayspring was created 173 years ago as the community public care facility. In the 1970’s, Swank said, counties determined what they wanted to do with the building. Richland County turned their facility into Dayspring.
“We are the last safety net (for the residents),” Swank said. “It is very possible (the residents wouldn’t have anywhere to go) if the levy doesn’t pass. If they don’t have family — which many of them don’t — it is very likely.”
Swank added because of the nature of the residents’ needs, they often don’t qualify for assisted living or Medicaid help from the government.
“Most need just a little help,” Swank said. “In that sense, they don’t receive Medicare or Medicaid. Most people go to a nursing home and pay what they can. Medicaid pays the rest. Most of our residents don’t need that much care.”
Swank said most of the residents, at least 58 percent of which are under 65, need help with daily routines such as showering or brushing teeth and taking medicine. Others are at a high fall-risk.
“Each person has their own reason for they are here,” she said. “One person who was in the service now has paranoid schizophrenia. She was so anxious and nervous she didn’t feel safe at her own house.”
After visiting multiple military care facilities, Swank said she ended up at Dayspring.
“She needed help and couldn’t function on her own,” she said.
