In a sunny room at the Adult Day Program in Colchester, Harka Rai sat hunched over a coloring page. The 81-year-old Bhutanese man had colored the central floral design red and blue and was moving on to a different section of the page. His wife, Dhan, sat next to him. She, too, was engrossed in her own work. The couple is among the eight Bhutanese senior citizens who attend the adult daytime care program, which the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties launched in 1981. Participants have frailties and functional needs in some of their daily living activities. On average, 18 to 24 people visit the VNA's premises in Colchester each week, said site manager Donna LaFromboise-Perretta. The Bhutanese aren't the only immigrants participating in the program. The Colchester site also serves clients born in Bosnia and Iraq, but the number of Bhutanese elders enrolled in the program has grown in the last seven months. That increase can be attributed to the efforts of Khara Neopaney, a case manager at Age Well. The Essex-based nonprofit provides support services to aging Vermonters in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties. "People come for different reasons," explained LaFromboise-Perretta, who has worked at the Adult Day Program for 25 years. "They might live alone and need socialization, or they might live with a family member who has to work, and so they are not fit to stay home alone." Months after Rai resettled in Vermont in 2014, he suffered a stroke. "I used to stay inside the house," he said through an interpreter. "I feel that I cannot go anywhere due to the snow." But, like many seniors, Rai found it difficult to remain inactive. In Bhutan and Nepal, he had been an astrologer, farmer and Hindu priest. He was also a dhami-jhakri, or "jumping doctor," who performed rituals to heal the sick. At the Adult Day Program, Rai's favorite activity is coloring, he indicated. "We know there's a big population that needs Adult Day, [and] we know there's a great Adult Day Program," said Rachel Lee Cummings, Age Well's chief operating officer. But the Bhutanese senior citizens weren't utilizing the VNA's program because of cultural barriers, she noted. "[Neopaney] has been the main person to increase [participation in] VNA Adult Day [by] the refugee community," Cummings said. The program is "a great thing" for Bhutanese senior citizens, Neopaney…
In a sunny room at the Adult Day Program in Colchester, Harka Rai sat hunched over a coloring page. The 81-year-old Bhutanese man had colored the central floral design red and blue and was moving on to a different section of the page. His wife, Dhan, sat next to him. She, too, was engrossed in her own work. The couple is among the eight Bhutanese senior citizens who attend the adult daytime care program, which the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties launched in 1981. Participants have frailties and functional needs in some of their daily living activities. On average, 18 to 24 people visit the VNA's premises in Colchester each week, said site manager Donna LaFromboise-Perretta. The Bhutanese aren't the only immigrants participating in the program. The Colchester site also serves clients born in Bosnia and Iraq, but the number of Bhutanese elders enrolled in the program has grown in the last seven months. That increase can be attributed to the efforts of Khara Neopaney, a case manager at Age Well. The Essex-based nonprofit provides support services to aging Vermonters in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties. "People come for different reasons," explained LaFromboise-Perretta, who has worked at the Adult Day Program for 25 years. "They might live alone and need socialization, or they might live with a family member who has to work, and so they are not fit to stay home alone." Months after Rai resettled in Vermont in 2014, he suffered a stroke. "I used to stay inside the house," he said through an interpreter. "I feel that I cannot go anywhere due to the snow." But, like many seniors, Rai found it difficult to remain inactive. In Bhutan and Nepal, he had been an astrologer, farmer and Hindu priest. He was also a dhami-jhakri, or "jumping doctor," who performed rituals to heal the sick. At the Adult Day Program, Rai's favorite activity is coloring, he indicated. "We know there's a big population that needs Adult Day, [and] we know there's a great Adult Day Program," said Rachel Lee Cummings, Age Well's chief operating officer. But the Bhutanese senior citizens weren't utilizing the VNA's program because of cultural barriers, she noted. "[Neopaney] has been the main person to increase [participation in] VNA Adult Day [by] the refugee community," Cummings said. The program is "a great thing" for Bhutanese senior citizens, Neopaney…