Adult Day Care in Dallas, Built Around Memory Loss

When we checked Caring.com’s list of adult day care in Dallas in September 2026, only two of its ten listings had a street address inside the city, and one of those is a cerebral palsy organization. The rest were in Richardson (that one is us), Mesquite, Plano, DeSoto, McKinney and Arlington. The same check turned up few programs anywhere in Dallas County that describe themselves as built for dementia.  

That matters because a general adult day program and a memory care day program are different places. A general program is often a good fit for an older adult who is lonely or physically frail but thinking clearly. A person with Alzheimer’s needs staff trained to redirect, to cue, and to spot the anxiety that shows up as pacing, wandering or rummaging. Every member of our staff is trained in dementia care techniques, holds CPR and first aid certification, and completes at least 12 hours of ongoing training a year. That is the difference we ask Dallas families to test when they tour.

A licensed nurse is on duty at each center every day we are open. The nurse can give medications, check blood pressure and pulse, test blood sugar, assist with oxygen, handle treatments, and track weight over time, which catches problems a busy family can miss. If a member feels unwell, they rest in the nurse’s office or the bedroom with a staff member beside them until you or paramedics arrive. The full list of what our nursing team covers is on our health care and wellness page.  

Staffing stays at one staff member for every five members. That ratio is why we ask families to reserve days rather than drop in: it lets us plan meals and staffing so the ratio holds all day. Every staff member passes a criminal background check before hiring. Each center has written emergency plans for fire, power loss, severe weather and other events, and we run fire and disaster drills every month.

We suggest two to three days a week to start. Members who begin that way usually settle faster, because the room, the faces and the rhythm become familiar. Here is roughly how a day runs.  

• Morning. Members arrive to a continental breakfast and a morning snack. Staff greet each person by name, and our nurse checks in with anyone who needs medication, a blood pressure reading or a glucose test. The first of two daily exercise sessions gets everyone moving.  
• Midday. Lunch is served from 12:30 to 1:30 in the dining room, on tables set with linen napkins and fresh flowers. It is a hot, full meal cooked in our own kitchen from menus a licensed dietitian reviews, so special diets and food allergies are handled on site instead of worked around. Staff sit with members who need cues, prompts or adaptive utensils.  
• Afternoon. Music, word games, trivia, arts and crafts, the daily sing-along, visits from therapy dogs, live entertainment and intergenerational programs fill the afternoon. Anyone who tires can rest in a recliner or in the center’s bedroom. Water and juice go around at least three times a day, because dehydration hides easily in people with memory loss.  

You pick up someone who has eaten, moved, talked with peers and been looked after all day. You also get back the hours you spent watching the clock at work. Our walkthrough of a day at a dementia day program goes deeper if you want to picture it. 

At our Richardson center, a half day (five hours or less) is $80 and a full day (more than five hours, up to ten and a half) is $100, with a one-time $65 enrollment fee that covers screening and a needs assessment. The full breakdown is on the Richardson days, hours and costs page. Our DeSoto center publishes its own rate sheet, which varies with the level of care each member needs, on the DeSoto days, hours and costs page.  

Several things can bring that number down.  

• Veterans. Both centers are contracted with the VA North Texas Health Care System through the VA’s Community Adult Day Health Care program. For eligible veterans referred by a VA physician, the VA pays the daily fee, and a small copay applies in some cases. Our veterans page explains how referral works. VA North Texas runs the Dallas VA Medical Center on South Lancaster Road.
• Long-term care insurance. Almost all long-term care policies cover adult day services. We help families verify benefits with the insurer.
• The Dallas Area Agency on Aging. Run by the Community Council of Greater Dallas, the Dallas Area Agency on Aging offers caregiver support, including respite, to unpaid caregivers in Dallas County. Its eligibility rules include caregivers of someone of any age who has Alzheimer’s or a related dementia, which helps families facing younger-onset dementia.

Families searching “respite care Dallas” are often looking for exactly this: a few reliable hours a week so the caregiver can work, rest or see their own doctor. Adult day care is respite that happens every week, not once a year.  

Schedule a Tour and we will walk through cost with you in plain numbers.