Senior Page: Center For Active Living Prepares For Move To Community Center, Temporary Quarters During Construction At Stony Hill Road Site

CHATHAM – The Center for Active Living and other town departments are working hard to make sure that there’s as little disruption as possible in services for seniors, even as their headquarters at 193 Stony Hill Rd. prepares to close for construction for the better part of a year. 

 On Monday, Program Coordinator Anna Milan led an informational session to describe the CFAL’s plans to relocate to the community center during the anticipated 10 months that the Stony Hill Road facility is being renovated. She spoke to more than a dozen seniors in the building’s main function room, peering around the central support column that has blocked event attendees’ views for years. It’s one notable problem that the renovation project will fix.

 The building will close to the public starting on Monday, Oct. 6, beginning a week-long move to the community center, where programming will resume after Oct. 10.

 “We obviously have a lot to get over to the community center through Oct. 10,” and will be focused on moving staff, supplies and equipment to temporary quarters. During the week-long move, most staff will be reachable only by email or voicemail, Milan said. Seniors with emergency needs should call 911, as always. CFAL programs that were already scheduled to take place at the community center, like exercise programs, will take place as scheduled, but other activities like the popular cribbage club “will just take a pause for that week,” she said. There will be no changes to the transportation schedule that week, but all requests for appointments should be made by Oct. 1. Except for emergency needs, there will be no rentals of durable medical equipment during that week, so all requests should be made by Oct. 3. The Ryder’s Cove Respite adult day program will not be held that week.

 After the transition week, most programming will resume at the community center, where a CFAL staff person will be present in the lobby to check people in and direct them to the appropriate room for their activity. Additional signs will be in place, and volunteers will be on hand to help people find their programs, Milan said.

 “Don’t worry, you’ll get where you need to go,” she told those at Monday’s session.

 “We realize it’s a long walk from the parking lot just to the lobby,” Community Services Director Leah LaCross added. Some wheelchairs will be available for those who need assistance. “We can meet you outside,” she said. LaCross said she would also inquire about the possibility of reserving additional handicap parking spaces at the community center.

 LaCross and other CFAL staffers will be working in a trailer to be stationed just outside the community center. The trailer lacks handicap accessibility and so is not open to the public; any meetings with CFAL staff will be held inside the community center.

 Some programs held at the CFAL could not be accommodated at the community center and have found different temporary homes. The Meals on Wheels program will now be run out of the Methodist Church on Main Street, and volunteer drivers will now go there to collect meals. 

 “There will be no interruption to services,” Milan said. 

The Caregivers’ Support Group will now meet at the Eldredge Public Library on its regular schedule, and the monthly birthday luncheon held by the Friends of the CFAL will now be held on the third Thursday of each month at the Chatham VFW on George Ryder Road. The foot care clinic will now take place at the Harwich Community Center on Oak Street on the third Friday of the month. 

 The SHINE program that helps seniors sign up for health insurance coverage will have counselors available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at town hall on Main Street during the open enrollment period from Oct. 14 to Dec. 7. Participants should call for instructions on how to receive and submit an application packet.

 Details on all programs and activities will be posted on the CFAL page of the town website, published in the newsletter The Flash, and included in the town’s Mainsheet newsletter. 

 The CFAL will be in its temporary quarters for the duration of the construction at 193 Stony Hill Rd., which is expected to take about 10 months to complete.

 “But this is Cape Cod and we know that things may happen, and we may be at the community center a little bit longer,” LaCross said. If the relocation extends into the summer of 2026, provisions will be made to ensure parking remains available and summer programs at the community center are uninterrupted, though those details have yet to be finalized, she said.

 LaCross praised Milan and other town staff, particularly at the community center, for the transitional plan. She also thanked outside agencies for coming to the CFAL’s aid.

 “Everywhere we asked, we were met with such support,” she said. “There’s no way we could’ve made this work without the community.”