Wellness Center for Older Adults
On November 27, 1978, a group called Churches for Community Cooperation met to hear Janet A. Moll, a geriatric nurse practitioner, present a program on a geriatric clinic. This group of interested and concerned citizens felt that wellness-oriented health care was needed for older citizens of Plano. A five-person task force was appointed and the work began to bring preventive health care to Plano’s older citizens.
On June 13, 1979, the first clinic was held in the Lion’s Club Community Center and the clinic was held twice a month. In August of 1982, the Wellness Center moved to West Plano Presbyterian Church, along with the Senior Services for the City of Plano. This senior clinic was named the Maurice Barnett Geriatric Wellness Center, named after the West Plano Presbyterian Church minister who helped found the clinic. In October of 1984, all three Plano senior services moved to the first Plano Senior Center located in Harrington Park. Although the building was owned by the City of
Plano, it was renovated under the direction of the Wellness Center’s Board Member Chuck Richardson. Funds for this renovation were raised by Chuck and the Plano West Rotary Club. In 1989, Betsy Jacobs, a member of the original five person task force and founding volunteer, became the first Executive Director. In 1997, a new Plano Senior Center was opened on the same site as its first building and currently serves as the home base of the Wellness Center, which now serves all of Collin County and operates five days a week doing business as the Wellness Center for Older Adults.
The Wellness Center is governed by a volunteer board of dedicated citizens and is a 501(C)3 charitable organization.