Another La Feria Success Story

La Esperanza Adult Care Center moves to new,  larger location

La Esperanza Adult Care Center has been providing a daytime, family atmosphere for adult clients in La Feria for 24 years. Last month they moved to their new, larger and more commodious location on East Business 83 to better serve the citizens of La Feria and their families.

To celebrate the event, owner Sergio Tamez invited everyone to inspect the new services with a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony and Open House. City Mayor Victor Gonzalez welcomed the expansion of La Esperanza Adult Care Center as a much needed service for the city’s older population..

Owner Sergio Tamez explained the history and mission of the Center. “My partner, Jose F. Aguilar, and I entered the adult day care business in Pharr in 1992,” he said, “At the time, we were both employed at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco. My specialty was handling ventilator breathing and other respiratory needs in the hospital and especially in the Emergency Room (E.R). My partner Aguilar was director of education. He taught the staff to upgrade their licenses for advanced cardio life-support. He instructed doctors and nurses on the latest techniques in the field.”

“Those experiences gave us the opportunity to join ranks and use our combined skills to help older people in many ways, including transportation, food, entertainment and health care at the same time,” he explained. Thus was born their first such center in Pharr. It was, and still is, very successful. “It was my father who came up with the name: La Esperanza (“The Hope” in English). We liked it, and have stayed with it”.

The partners then left Knapp Hospital and opened their second adult, daytime health care facility five years later–also in Pharr. 14 years later they opened their daytime health care facility in La Feria.

How they made the decision to open an adult health care facility in La Feria is interesting. It was the direct result of a suggestion from a Catholic Priest, Larry O’Hara, who was serving as Chaplain at the Knapp hospital in Weslaco. O’Hara got transferred to St. Francis Xavier in La Feria. He took the initiative to call Sergio, and said he had a place for his adult care business next to the Catholic church in La Feria if they wanted it. That was in 2000. They saw the opportunity and have successfully operated at that location until May of this year

Tamez said, “We are more than a place to while away the time. La Esperanza offers weekly prayer meetings and exercise programs. We have arts and crafts training and materials. We also provide transportation for clients to go shopping and pay bills and other services. We make excursions several times a year to museums, to the SPI beach and the Gladys Porter zoo. All of this with licensed healthcare professionals and nurses available.”

“These time-consuming personal services make the families of our clients very happy, because, otherwise, they would have to miss work for dialysis, lab work and doctor’s appointments,” he said.

On a personal note, he said, “My partner passed away on October 17, 2015, making me the sole owner. I have built this building on East Hiway 83, and continue the work in his honor. I fulfilled what we were planning.”

Any reader wanting more information about LA ESPERANZA Adult Daycare Center can call Juanita Fernandez, LVN, Assistant Director at 797-2885.