AMSTERDAM — New showers, a quiet room and other renovations are making the day easier for dozens of people who spend their daytimes at the Medical Adult Day Health Center at Amsterdam Memorial Hospital.

The hospital recently put finishing touches on a $144,000 renovation project supported with a $87,000 grant from the state Health Department.

Older Adult Services Director Lori A. Tambasco said the project was small in scope but it generated excitement among the clientele there and its completion makes life a bit easier for the growing numbers that spend their day there.

“It was quite exciting for everybody,” said Tambasco.

The center, one of the first after its opening in 1972, provides health care services for senior citizens and others with chronic health conditions.

It also helps people who might otherwise go to live permanently in a nursing home, and those with little chance to get out of the house, Tambasco said.

Being able to have their health conditions monitored while engaging in a social environment provides both physical security and allows people with medical conditions to keep living at home.

“The whole wave of the future is to keep people home longer,” Tambasco said.

The renovations didn’t require adding space. A janitorial closet and offices were replaced with two new bathrooms, a walk-in shower facility and a laundry room.

Before the construction, residents who needed to use the showers had to go upstairs to the Wilkinson Center nursing home, now, the day center is mostly self-sufficient.

“We were able to utilize space that we had, just in a different way,” Tambasco said.

A small group room was added for people who require quiet space and one-on-one care, and clients themselves got to take part in the work.

Debbie Frederick, who has been spending her days at the center for three years, said the renovations bring smiles to many there.

“Extra bathrooms, that’s a definite yes,” said Frederick, who calls the new quiet room the “cozy room.”

“First, I was a client, then I kept bugging [Tambasco] so I could be a volunteer,” Frederick said.

“I’m a people person,” she said.

Frederick helps lead groups in exercises, coloring and bingo, and the group of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients recently planted some seeds to start growing flowers, she said.

The project opened up space in the center as well, making it easier for people like Frederick to move around in wheelchairs.

The work also included an upgrade of a monitoring system that alerts nurses when Alzheimer’s patients get too close to doorways so they won’t wander off.

Frederick and others took part in two important facets of the work: two senior citizens from the day center and another from the Wilkinson Center each got to take a whack at a wall to be torn down, and they all discussed the colors they’d most like to see in the new rooms.

One of the seniors broke the hammer, Tambasco said.

“They all felt like they participated in the process, and it’s their program,” Tambasco said.

They also chose much of the decor, including a favorite painting owned by a popular client who passed away.

The combination of care from certified nursing assistants and access to physicians at Amsterdam Memorial Hospital makes for a worry-free environment that helps clients forget they have health issues.

Games and conversations also play a role in clients getting away from the stress health problems can bring on.

“They’re unaware, sometimes, of their care. Activities and socialization are a really big part,” Tambasco said.

Other activities on the schedule include dough sculptures, Hangman, Kentucky Derby Trivia, Whamo, ring toss and balloon volleyball.

The service can also help families who want to care for their loved ones at home but can’t during the day due to work schedules.

“Sometimes, it acts as a respite for the families,” she said.

Administrators decided to go forward with the project when attendance at a similar program in Canajoharie dropped while needs in the Amsterdam area were increasing, Tambasco said.

The Amsterdam center was seeing 25 folks on average, with fewer in Canajoharie, Tambasco said, so officials decided to consolidate.

“There was a waiting list for services in this area,” Tambasco said.

The Medical Adult Day Health Center at Amsterdam Memorial Hospital had roughly 8,000 visits in 2007, Tambasco said, and the extra space is expected to accommodate 9,700 this year, bringing some off a waiting list that still exists.