CORONA DEL MAR : Oasis Senior Center to Get a Face-Lift

Senior citizens in Newport Beach and surrounding towns next year will have a renovated and expanded Oasis Multipurpose Senior Center in Corona del Mar.

A $700,000 contract to design the expansion was recently awarded to Recreation Systems Inc. in Anaheim and construction is expected to begin in about six months, according to Celeste Jardine-Haug, Newport Beach’s supervisor of older adult services.

“We need an area configured more like a senior citizen’s center,” she said. “People feel like they have to come to classes and then go home. We want them to stay all day.”

Open to the people of all ages but catering to seniors, the 3,200-member center has been a Corona del Mar landmark for more than 10 years.

Jardine-Haug noted that Oasis once was a private elementary school which the city bought in 1977. Now, a small paid staff and about 300 volunteers hold more than 50 classes and activities there each year for people who come from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine and Laguna Beach, she said.

Plans for the facility at 800 Marguerite Avenue include 4,000 more square feet, with new gardens, a lounge area with an informal reading and conversation area, and more office space for counseling and other human services.

“The real reason for this expansion is to accommodate the changing needs of seniors here,” Jardine-Haug said. “The population is expanding, getting older and needs help.”

Jointly funded and managed by the city and Friends Of Oasis Inc., a nonprofit organization, the Oasis provides numerous services including meals, employment, shared housing, counseling, support groups, medical equipment loans, travel, transportation, health screenings, and the extensive recreational and educational programs.

About 17% of the Newport Beach population, or almost 12,000 people, are more than 55 years old, Jardine-Haug said.

“We attract a wide range of people from the newly retired to the frail,” she said. “We want to make sure everyone gets their needs met.”