Sheryl Kysar

The Powell Senior Center has hired a new director.

Sheryl Kysar started at the end of November, and she said she’s enjoying her new position.

“Everyone has been very welcoming,” Kysar said.

Kysar replaces Cathy Florian, who resigned in October.

The new director is originally from Powell. Her family moved to Denver when she was in the sixth grade and aside from a few years in the military, she lived in the city until this summer.

Kysar has a long history working in senior services. She managed assisted living facilities for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia and later opened her own home health agency.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to keep that business going.

“People are afraid to have caregivers in their homes, so the demand faded out,” Kysar said.

While the pandemic will eventually be a thing of the past, her career demanded 100-hour work weeks and created a lot of stress. She was looking for a slower pace of life.

At the end of August, she returned to Powell with her daughter, Kaylee, who’s a freshman at Powell High School.

Linda Dalton, the Powell Senior Center’s bookkeeper, said there were about a half-dozen candidates interviewed for the director position, and Kysar’s background made her stand out. Dalton added that Kaylee is a lot like her mother, coming into the center often to volunteer her time.

Kysar said there’s a lot more flexibility and freedom at the Powell Senior Center, which she didn’t have at the highly regulated, locked facilities where she previously worked. With that freedom, she wants to implement some new ideas at the center, including a senior council that will help direct how the center is run.

The council will be composed of seniors who use the center. They can provide input on programs they want — including helping to develop the cafeteria menu — and represent those who most directly benefit from the center’s services.

“So they can decide, based on their own interests, what programs they’d like to see. We’d like to honor that,” Kysar said.

Early next year, she will have a new website up, which will feature information about the center’s schedule and menu, as well as educational items the seniors can use.

As a certified Alzheimer’s and dementia instructor, Kysar also wants to establish a community support group for people in the area who are caretakers for those suffering from the disorders. The group will be for anyone caring for an aging spouse or parent and needs support.

“You can feel very alone and isolated when you’re the single caregiver for somebody,” Kysar explained. “The support group will give them that space to vent and know they’re not alone. What they’re going through is normal.” 

She also hopes to get an exercise program going again — something seniors have voiced interest in — and has a volunteer interested in running it.

Kysar is also going to continue work on building a new senior center, which is still in the planning stages.

The Powell Senior Center Board of Directors asked her to look at the plans to see what suggestions she could make, but she couldn’t see any room for improvement.

“It was phenomenally well done. It’s very well laid out and thought out,” Kysar said.

She’s in the process of looking for grant opportunities, local donations and other funding sources to bring the new facility to fruition. Despite the challenge fundraising poses, Kysar thinks it’s a surmountable problem.

In response to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the center closed its dining room again at the end of November. Kysar said they hope to reopen in January, if all goes well.

“We just wanted to make sure everyone was safe, especially with the gatherings over the holidays,” she said.