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Man’amko Center reopens
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Posted on Jan 04 2019
The Man’amko Center, or the Saipan Office on Aging Center in Garapan opened its doors to the elderly yesterday, attracting about 60 on its first day.
Executive director Walter Manglona said this was the first time for the center to accommodate the elderly since the devastation of Super Typhoon Yutu, when the center was temporarily used as an emergency short-term shelter.
Despite the center’s low-key reopening, about 60 of the center’s 80 man’amko members still showed up as of 12pm yesterday.
Manglona said that some members asked to be picked up on Monday. “Some of them are still doing errands,” he added.
Manglona said his office is looking at talking with the man’amko the idea of a late holiday celebration since the man’amko were unable to meet over the holidays.
“We are anticipating next week…to sit down and plan what we can do to celebrate the new year and the typhoon recovery,” he said. “[Today] seemed like a soft opening.”
Manglona noted that the shelterees left the center about two to three weeks ago.
“…We still [have] quite a few things to do, but the [Aging Office] is looking pretty good now, so we decided to open up the center,” Manglona said.
“We miss our man’amko and we want them to come back. [Reopening] the Aging Office is very helpful for them to recover, not just from the disaster but also mentally and physically…by getting them back to normalcy,” he added.
