Adult personal care home opens in Dawson

DAWSON – A little more than a year after the opening of S&S Adult Day Health here, the center is shifting its gears and opening its doors for a second time. 

The newly named S&S Personal Care Home welcomed its first resident Monday, as the center transforms into an assisted living space with 23 beds. The facility, located at the old hospital building at 475 Cinderella Lane SE, will provide adult residents with 24/7 support, medication management, social and recreational activities, limited medical care assistance and more. Three staff members will be on the day shift along with a cook and janitor. 

Residents must be at least 18 years old and mobile and able to feed themselves. 

“It’ll be their home,” Shakita Lewis, the founder and administrator of S&S, said. “It’s not like a nursing home setting where it’s total care … they have to be able to do things for themselves.” 

Lewis originally opened an adult day care program in Dawson in May 2024 as a center where Dawson area seniors or adults with disabilities could gather and enjoy social activities. Lewis, who runs an at-home care center in Albany, said she saw a need for this outlet in Terrell County, where 20% of the population is 65 and older, according to the 2022 U.S. Census. 

However, she said the turnout to the center wasn’t as large as expected in its first few months, and most of the people who did visit talked about needing a space where adults could be provided assistant living. 

“About three months into the adult day center … there was a police officer that stopped by … and she wanted to do a walk-through of the building,” Lewis said. “She was like, ‘Oh my God, what if you turned this into a personal care home? That would be wonderful.’” 

Lewis said she closed the center in April and began working on getting the building up to code to be certified by the state to be a personal care home. 

“I decided to pursue where the help was more needed,” she said. 

After six months of work, the center passed its state inspection with zero deficiencies. After obtaining an official license, the center can now accept Private Pay residents. Lewis said she is awaiting approval to accept Medicaid residents and has a waitlist of about 10 residents awaiting that approval. She said she expects this approval to come in September or October. 

Lewis began working to help seniors after caring for her father, who was diagnosed with diabetes. When her father passed away eight years ago, she said he encouraged her to help others, so Lewis got to work. The adult day care center was a part of the culmination of that work, but she said she feels good about the transition to a personal care home. 

“I think I’m more excited about this … because I can interact more … bring clients in to help their loved ones,” she said. 

Along with a permanent living situation, the S&S Personal Care Home also will be a respite facility where families can place loved ones for short-term stays when they need to go out of town. 

Lewis said she also will seek a partnership with Albany Technical College students to put on a beauty and care salon at the personal care home. She said she’s also been able to help keep the memory of the old hospital alive, renovating and utilizing the entire facility for the personal care home. 

“People come and they tell me about the history here,” she said. “They say, ‘Oh, this room right here was where I was born,’ or ‘I had my daughter in this room right there.’ It’s just those types of memories, and they’re excited to see it back up and running with the renovations and furnishing and everything.” 

Dawson has one nursing home but otherwise limited facilities where adults in need of assistance can go to stay. 

“There’s a great need for it … to help people if they don’t have anywhere to go and if they don’t want to go far … they don’t have to go to Columbus, Americus or Albany,” she said. 

The center is accepting names for its waitlist. Its grand opening was hosted on Aug. 22. Those interested in S&S Personal Care Home can come take a tour of the facility.

“If you want to come back for another look, the doors are always open,” Lewis said.