Clients are why April is here

Meet April Hamilton, Director of Full Life’s Adult Day Health Care Programs

Adult Day Health Director April Hamilton visits with client Gerald at the South Branch Center.

April Hamilton has been a part of Full Life Care’s Adult Day Health Care program since 2009. She came to Full Life after graduating with a degree in social work with a desire to work with older adults.

“I remember having a wonderful relationship with my great grandma and, looking at all the services Full Life Care provides, I thought ‘This could really be a great place,’” April said. “It’s just what I would have wanted for her if she were still alive.”

In those 13 years, April has seen a lot of changes with the organization, but none more challenging than the last two years with the COVID pandemic.

“Pre-COVID, we had a bustling program with over 100 clients a day coming into the building,” she said. “But we decided the health of our clients and staff was more important than in-person programs, so we shut down early in the pandemic.”

Once the shutdown happened, April and the staff got together to brainstorm ways to serve their clients safely. They called their clients every day and developed a virtual services program, using Zoom, to provide many of the services they had previously provided in-person, such as exercises the clients can do at home.

The staff even found an unexpected advantage to going virtual with Zoom.

“Before, each of our programs were siloed depending on the location of our offices, and clients had limited opportunity to interact with each other,” she said. “With Zoom, Seattle clients can now interact with Everett clients, and vice versa.”

One thing April looks forward to when she comes to work is the special people at Full Life Care.

“Not everyone can do our job,” she said. “It’s not easy what we do. When we get case managers fresh out of college, eager to work with people, I tell them working with people takes passion. When running our adult day health programs, we are in close contact with our clients, and you have to have a lot of energy and passion to provide the level of service our clients deserve.

Adult Day Health Director April Hamilton visits with client Mary at the South Branch Center.

“It’s not a job that anybody and everybody can do. It takes a special type of person.”

This passion and personal attention Full Life Care brings to their clients can really make a difference in their lives. One recent challenge was a client who expressed being bored at home, unable to do the fun activities she used to do when visiting Full Life Care in-person. So, her case manager pulled together some puzzles and word games, which she personally delivered to the client.

“The client was so excited! Taking that extra step, something she didn’t expect, meant so much to her,” April said. “The clients expect daily phone calls with their case managers, but to have someone visit in-person with fun, brain challenging, activities made her day.”

When asked what has kept April a part of Full Life Care over all these years, she said:

“We really do help people out in our community. We work with many family caregivers, and it is always such an honor to hear from them what our day care programs mean to their loved ones, and how it gives the caregivers a desperately needed break during their day.

“This is why, over all these years later, I am still here!”

This story was written by Seattle University Communications degree program students Nate Robinson and Emeka Udenyi.