DEMOREST – Habersham County officials were joined by a standing-room crowd for the dedication of the new Senior Wellness Center near Demorest this week.
The new facility, located next to the Habersham County Senior Center, is located at the end of Scoggins Drive off Golf Course Road behind Hilliard Wilbanks Middle School in Demorest.
“This is a fantastic showing, a great, great group of folks,” said Commission Chairman Stacy Hall. “Thank you so much for being here. We’re super excited about opening this new facility.”
The separate, multi-activity wellness facility is needed for the growing user population, according to county officials.
“We were so crowded in the other building,” said Senior Center Director Kathy Holcomb. “There was not even room to walk from one office to the other. We would some days have 30-some-odd people doing class. Now, we can expand. I can take my senior center, where we do our congregate meals, and we can expand that, so now they have room to sit at their tables and they can socialize and do what they want to do in their world.”
The new facility will allow wellness programs to move out of the original senior center, making that building more user-friendly for those who don’t participate in wellness initiatives.
“All of the programs for exercise and our equipment will be here,” Holcomb said while walking through the new building. “You can see the space that we have here. They’ll be able to expand. We’ll have all the exercise programs in here. We’ll have a workout room down on the end, and then we’ll have a classroom. So, we’re going to be bringing in the Parkinson’s group, Alzheimer’s, dementia – I’ve even reached out to the cancer society to see if they want to meet here. You know, I’m open to anyone who wants to come and participate in this building as long as you’re a senior of Habersham County. That’s all I want to do is take care and serve people, and that’s my goal.”
In 1991, Habersham County was awarded a Community Development Block Grant to construct a senior center on county-owned property on Scoggins Drive, Demorest. From construction until new mandated programming requirements passed by the state in 2003, that facility was adequate.
The wellness component was added, and a part-time wellness coordinator was hired in June 2003. As participation grew, the wellness position became full-time.
From 2003 to 2016, the wellness programs expanded from 25 clients to 282 clients participating in weekly/monthly wellness activities.
In November 2016, Habersham County officials adopted a resolution to seek financing for the facility through a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant.
