Prime Time

POSTED: Monday, May. 18, 2009

Nutrition keeps rollin' with Meals on Wheels

For many older folks, their car is their lifeline. So when they lose their ability to drive, everything can become more difficult - whether it's visiting friends, keeping doctor appointments or shopping for groceries.

Thankfully, for those who aren't as mobile as they used to be, Meals on Wheels delivers nutritious meals to senior centers, even to your doorstep.

Since 1975, the nonprofit program has been dropping off frozen meals to people 60 and older who are home-bound due to permanent health issues or temporary injuries.

For seniors still able to get around but still in need of an inexpensive meal, the program also provides hot lunches at 11 senior centers and high-rise apartments for older residents in Whatcom County.

For 83-year-old Normadene Padgett, the delivered meals came in handy when she was homebound while recovering from a broken leg.

"They work pretty good," Padgett says. "Especially when you're unable to cook or use the kitchen, they fill in pretty well."

Now that she's recovered, Padgett helps check people in for the hot meals at Bellingham Senior Activity Center, where nearly 150 seniors eat every day.

With 34 menu options - ranging from Swedish meatballs to vegetable lasagna to chili-stuffed potatoes - these are more than the average frozen food dish. Pam Relay, nutrition director for the Whatcom County Council on Aging, which runs the program, says all of the meals are high in protein but low in salt and fat.

Each meal contains a third of the recommended daily amount of vitamins A and C, and meals for people on diabetic diets are available, too.

When interested people call the Meals on Wheels program, they are immediately added to the delivery rolls, Relay says. Within a week or so, a case manager will come to the client's home to verify that they are immobile, and to tailor delivery of the meals to the clients' needs.

The Whatcom County branch of the program can arrange delivery of up to seven meals a week to most corners of the county - from Point Roberts to Maple Falls.

Relay says Meals on Wheels hasn't had enough demand to warrant regular deliveries to such areas as Lake Samish or Sudden Valley, so the program works with clients to arrange for friends or family members to pick up the meals from Bellingham, or to meet halfway at a senior center.

"If someone needs the meals, we figure out some way to work with them," she says. "We make arrangements that can make it easy for them to pick up."

As an example, Relay says they have arranged for friends of a home-bound Lummi Island resident to pick up a month's worth of meals at a time.

COPES AND CHORE PROGRAMS

If the $3 to $5 suggested donation per meal is too spendy, Relay says some folks can qualify for meals through the Medicaid COPES program, which supplements the cost of community programs for people who otherwise would be in a nursing home.

COPES is designed for people who are physically unable to do the necessities of daily living, such as bathing or using the restroom, but still want to live at home. Low-income seniors can qualify for state money to offset the cost of an in-home assistant to help with such chores as cleaning the house, shopping for groceries and fixing meals.

Seniors who are mobile enough that they don't qualify for COPES, but still need help around the house, can contact the Whatcom Volunteer Center's Volunteer Chore Program, which matches local volunteers with seniors in need of assistance.

HELP WANTED

Being a nonprofit program, volunteer helpers are the wheels behind Meals on Wheels. The program does have 14 paid staff through the Council on Aging, but relies on the contributions of more than 70 volunteers, many of whom deliver the meals.

Relay says the program receives 30 percent of its funding from the federal government, and covers the rest - nearly $150,000 a year - through donations.

For that reason, the program is always looking for financial donors, and for people willing to volunteer their time to support the program.

"I always tell people, 'Things are rough these days, but these people are our neighbors and friends and family, so help us with this,'" Relay says.

Caleb Heeringa is a Seattle freelancer writer.