NORMAL -- Claire Bryant's "school" has been renamed and moved to a new location.

"I liked the other one (location), too, but this is so much nicer," said Bryant, 82, of Normal.

Her "school" is the Mildred Sterling Life Enrichment Center, formerly BroMenn Adult Day Services, which moved from 202 E. Locust St., Bloomington, to 207 Landmark Drive, Suite C, Normal.

The day center provides activities for the mind and body and socializing for about 40 older adults and adults with developmental disabilities, said center manager Rebecca Wheat.

"My great-granddaughter thinks I go to school because they pick us up in a bus and take us home," Bryant said with a laugh.

Participants play mental stimulation games, exercise, are provided a common meal, get help with medication management and take field trips to places such as Miller Park Zoo, Wheat said.

The center -- which started 35 years ago -- needed a new location because the former one was in an older building on a busy street, Wheat said. The new site, in the former Lippmann Furniture building, is larger and more modern and is in a quieter, more accessible setting, she said.

Open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays, the center -- with a staff of six -- has been renamed for Mildred Sterling, a 1938 graduate of the Brokaw School of Nursing and an elder advocate.

The only adult day center in Bloomington-Normal that meets standards of the Illinois Department on Aging, the BroMenn center provides a meaningful day experience for older adults and helps them to remain at home, providing less costly care than a nursing home, said Mike O'Donnell, executive director of the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging.

Bryant has been coming to the center since she had a stroke in 2001. She lives independently with assistance from her family.

"You meet so many people and you become almost like a family," she said. "It keeps your mind working and makes you feel better than if you were home alone all day. I thank God every day that I have a place to come to."