Julia Schwan
Alexyea Holmes
St. John's University
Charles Wankel
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It is commonly known that good health depends not only on one's physical health, but also on one's mental and spiritual well-being. Therefore, a big part of living a healthy lifestyle, especially for older people, is to be involved their community and feel "part of something bigger." With this in mind, La Familia Adult Day Center was created. The business is innovative because it targets two highly underserved segments of our community: the elderly and Hispanic populations. The center was developed to better serve retired, elderly, and handicapped people and to give them a sense of community. According to Petronila Villaña, owner and director of the center, the business "helps people to live a better life by offering them a community to be part of."
La Familia Adult Day Center caters to the elderly and Hispanic populations, both of which are underserved segments of our society. By promoting a friendly and healthy environment, as well as creative activities, the center provides its clients with a sense of community and fulfills their social needs. In doing so, they "help people to live better lives." The center provides services to adults who cannot manage themselves independently anymore or who are isolated and lonely.
La Familia represents a unique business model because it focuses on the Hispanic population. This is an interesting aspect considering that many people who immigrated to the United States years ago are not proficient in English. Therefore, the center offers an opportunity for Spanish speakers to communicate in their native language, which makes them feel comfortable and included in their community.
The center was envisioned by Petronila Villaña, who, soon after starting a career in social services, realized that there was an opportunity to create a business that, besides helping people, would be lucrative. The center is privately owned by Petronila and Rafaela Villaña.
La Familia Adult Day Center was created by Petronilla Villafaña, a young woman who had an ambitious goal: to "help people to live a better life." With this goal in mind, she started her career in social services and soon decided to open her own adult day care center when she noticed that the elderly and handicapped population had needs that were underserved by the healthcare system. Petronilla believed that "when people socialize, they have a better life." Therefore, in an effort to achieve her goal of helping people to live a better life, she opened La Familia. La Familia is a place where elderly and physically incapable people spend the day socializing, attending events, and participating in fun activities.
Many of the center's clients experience loneliness due to many reasons. Some of them live far away from their relatives, some were never married, and some have experienced the death of their significant other. Regardless of the situation, those adults find their "family" at the center and spend the day involved in fun activities. Another interesting aspect about La Familia is that the majority of its clients are Spanish speakers. Some of them immigrated to the United States and never gained proficiency in English; therefore, they find that La Familia serves as a comfortable place for them to communicate in their own language.
This innovation directly impacts the lives of its members and indirectly impacts the lives of the members’ relatives and the community as a whole. An adult day center provides its local elders an opportunity to feel a part of a community instead of feeling forgotten and alone, meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3, Good Health and Well-Being. The center's clients often feel neglected, especially in a big city such as New York, where people may easily go without ever thinking about the needs and desires of this community.
La Familia Adult Day Center provides recreational activities, transportation, and social services to adults who lack access to similar services and cannot manage themselves independently anymore. La Familia Adult Day Center not only serves the elderly and handicapped, but any adult above the age of 18 with a disability. The majority of the clients are over age 60 and speak Spanish. This is the first social service center in its area. It was founded and directed by Dominican entrepreneurs Petronila and Rafaela Villafaña.
Petronila expressed that it was challenging to raise funds to open the La Familia Adult Day Center and find employees who deeply cared about the participants at first. The La Familia Adult Day Center offers love and compassion to their clients. For Petronila, “If you’re happy, I’m happier.” She believes that abundance is there for everyone. They celebrate everything because they have people from all different cultures. The love and compassion Petronila and the employees radiate makes people feel like this is their family.
Because the center opened a new market to help people live a better life, they are leaving a remarkable impact on their community. When people socialize, they have a better life. Clients can engage in prayer, enjoy homemade food, play games like bingo, and participate in activities like painting. La Familia Adult Day Center leaves a personal touch in ways most businesses cannot. Each employee can directly impact a population by helping with compassion. That is a quality that cannot be faked.
This innovation directly benefits its clients, who are members of the elderly Hispanic population, by giving them a sense of community. The center helps its clients with everyday tasks that they cannot manage to perform by themselves anymore, and also offers them the opportunity to get involved in events and activities that help with their overall well-being. Indirectly, the center benefits the population that is closely related to the people attending the day care. Many people who attend La Familia have close family members who are unable to help them as much as they would like because of their lack of time or expertise. Therefore, the center also benefits this part of the society.
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Petronila Villafaña, Owner and Director
La Familia Adult Day Center supports the health, nutritional, social, and daily living needs of adults in a professionally staffed, group setting. In doing so, the business supports the UN Global Goal for Sustainable Development number 3, Good Health and Well-Being. The business' main goal is to create a community for its members to "live a better life" (Petronila Villafaña, Owner and Director).