Nora Jenkins started her career working in a nursing home.
Her love of geriatrics and God helped her achieve her dream of opening an adult daycare center.
A ribbon cutting was held for NORA’S CARING COMPANIONS ADULT DAY CARE CENTER LLC on Dec. 2, 2022
The facility, located at 460 Highway 9 West in Bennettsville (the old SC Works Center), will take patients ages 18 and older who are adults with functional/physical disabilities, individuals with dementia or Alzheimer’s, frail or isolated elders, adults who suffer from chronic illnesses and families/caregivers who want to keep their loved one at home while they remain in the workforce.
The 6,519-square-foot facility will be open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
The ribbon cutting included Jenkins’ family, friends, and community members.
Jenkins said she started this journey at the end of 2017, intending to open a restaurant.
“This was me and not God,” she said. “This is a five-year journey. Three years, I wasted trying to make my goal come true. Something came to me in the middle of the night and said, ‘Go back to your first love.’
Jenkins noted her first love was God, but her second love was nursing.
In 1973, she graduated from high school, and a year later, she became a nurse.
“My goal has always been to serve and do things to help others,” she said.
She said her parents instilled this in her, and she dedicated the business to their memory.
“Regardless of your dreams, never let anyone tell you that you cannot reach them,” Jenkins said. “You may not reach them when you want to, but when it is our season, whatever we’re going for, and it is God’s will, it is going to come to fruition, and that’s what has happened to me.”
Her ultimate goal for the adult day care is to be a blessing to everybody in the community regardless of race, creed, or whatever.
“When I became a nurse, I became a nurse to care for everybody and not just some but everybody,” Jenkins said. “So I’m hoping this daycare can be a blessing to all who need its services.”
A native of Marlboro County, Jenkins moved to Florence in 2005.
“This is home for me,” she said. “I asked God if he gave me something that I wanted to bring home. So many things have left Bennettsville, but I brought something back.”
Services include activities of daily living, indoor activities, education, symptom management, medication management, assistance with the community and personal referral activities, monitoring of physical and mental health, rest and recreation/outings, socialization, and peer support, transportation (to and from the center is available based on assessed needs, blood pressure monitoring, and exercise and development of hobbies.
Jenkins said the process to enroll an individual is to call their office at 843-679-7089 to talk.Medicaid is the primary payer source for adult daycare centers. NORA’S CARING COMPANIONS ADULT DAY CARE CENTER LLC would accept Medicaid, private pay, Long Term Care Insurance, and sliding scale payments for families with less than $50,000 income. Jenkins said she would sit down with families and come up with a plan of what the payment would be.
“I don’t want the payment to stop anybody from coming,” she said.