As society ventures into what should be the final moments of summer, the novel coronavirus continues to cast a large shadow of uncertainty over the months to come. Typically, students would be gearing up for a brand new school year as families would be settling in from their summer vacations, ready to meet the fall with new ambitions. The future remains unclear for all kinds of individuals, but one group which remains particularly affected by the virus continues to be the elderly community.
Unlike other groups of people that have been able to regain a sense of normalcy as government restrictions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have been lifted, many elderly individuals are still under strict orders from their doctors to quarantine at home as much as possible since their age alone is a high-risk factor for severe illness if they were to test positive for the virus.
While these precautions are for the safety of all senior citizens, it can be unimaginably lonely to be constricted to the confines of one’s home at a time when it might be dangerous to have visitors or go to the grocery store. These feelings are all too familiar for the regular attendees of the Paducah Senior Center.
Under normal circumstances, the Paducah Senior Center operates as a recreational, social and non-profit facility for the elderly members of the Western Kentucky area. The center provides seniors with an E-Homes program which goes to serve low-income seniors. The program enlists an E-Homes coordinator to provide these individuals with minor home repairs, safety assistance and aesthetic fixtures for their living spaces. The center also offers a fitness room with treadmills, weights and recumbent bikes, along with an exercise class. Social programs at the center include a pool room, billiard room and many different activities to partake in.
Perhaps the biggest attraction at the center, however, is the meals served Monday through Friday at lunchtime. Every weekday, seniors gather for nourishment and socialization at the seat of a hot, delicious meal prepared by the senior center staff members. For many seniors, this meal is their favorite part of the day. It’s a time when they can eat a nice meal that they might not necessarily want to cook for themselves if they live alone. In an extension of these daily lunches, the center also offers a Meals on Wheels lunch delivery service for the few seniors who are homebound or unable to travel to the center.
Since the coronavirus is currently prohibiting the senior center from allowing seniors to physically enter the facility, the faculty of the center decided to expand the Meals on Wheels program to many more seniors who depend on the weekly lunch.
“The seniors are sheltering at home because they are the more vulnerable population right now, and we are just trying to keep them safe and healthy,” said Christine Thompson, Director of the Paducah Senior Center. “Luckily, under the CARES funding, the federal government has allowed agencies like ours to keep and expand our services to at risk populations. We are able to get extra funding to provide meals to seniors that weren’t homebound before, but are now ordered to stay home due to the virus.”
On average, the faculty delivers about 160 to 170 meals a day. Because of this great increase in the amount of meals to prepare and deliver, the drivers and cooks of the meals have been working tirelessly in order to make sure these seniors are fed and taken care of. The drivers are provided with gloves, masks and lysol wipes in order to ensure the safety of themselves and the seniors they are handing these meals to.
The most miraculous thing about the expansion of the Meals on Wheels program throughout the coronavirus is that everyday at lunchtime, these elderly individuals, who aren’t able to leave their home or see their friends, are able to look forward to a moment of socialization when they see the familiar face of the driver delivering them their food.
“When the drivers are delivering these meals, they are able to touch base with the clients and make sure that they are doing okay,” said Christine. “Not only does the meal delivery serve that nutritional aspect, but it also serves as a wellness check to make sure that our seniors are okay and to know that they are healthy. And it serves as a great point of socialization because that might be the only human contact they have all day.”
Although no one knows what the future holds amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the faculty of the Paducah Senior Center look forward with a ray of positivity. Even if the seniors can’t return to the center for many more months, they plan to keep servicing their community of elders in any way that they can by continuing their Meals on Wheels delivery program to all eligible seniors.
