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ALTON - The Senior Services Plus Meals on Wheels program for senior citizens has faced an increased workload with a reduced staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic the last few weeks, but is still carrying out its mission to deliver lunches and dinners to its clients.
The program, designed for people 60 and over who are confined to their homes for any reason, and provides a daily hot meal to the clients, which has now become more important than ever because of the pandemic.
"The Meals on Wheels program is set up for clients, typically over the age of 60, that are homebound, unable to prepare meals for themselves," said program coordinator Tammie Updike, "unable to get out of their homes to purchase food. We do have disable clients as well; they're unable to care for themselves. The majority of our clients are assessed through either Southern Illinois Visiting Nurses Association or through their insurance companies. Of course, Senior Services Plus in a nonprofit organization, so we appreciate any donations to the program. So the clients are unable to leave their homes for additional health conditions. And so, for us right now, we're seeing a drastic increase in this client base, there are more and more people calling because of the quarantine. People can't get out of their homes, they are unable to purchase food. I've had several phone calls from clients saying they no longer have their home care aid, that we're providing those services for them. I've had phone calls from some of the clients' children, just kind of worried about the safety and everything."
To the safety end, all of the necessary precautions are being taken, along with no-contact deliveries of the vitally needed meals,
"Here at SSP, all of our drivers are following every safety precaution," Updike said. "We are carrying Lysol in our vehicles, we're using gloves, we're using masks, we're spraying our vehicles daily. We are temperature-checked, both in the morning when we come to work, we're temperature-checked again at noon. So we are following all of the (Center for Disease Control) guidelines that have been sent out to us, and also the Illinois Department on Aging, so we can try to make sure the seniors are safe, they can accept our deliveries. We no longer have contact with the clients; we're just basically knocking at the door, leaving the meals for them to pick up, so they can put a cooler out for them. We just want to make sure that they're getting their meals."
Even without the current pandemic, delivering the meals and making sure the clients get them is still a very important job.
"Without the COVID-19, and normally, it's a very important job," said nutrition director Sean Payne. "Tammie Updike from transportation Meals on Wheels, she told me that she went and served a couple of weeks ago to some of these people, and one lady just answered the door crying, because she couldn't get out of her house to go shopping, and she said she was going to be hungry if it wasn't for that food."
Payne and the other workers take much pride in their jobs, and feel like that the entire crew is helping to make a difference.
"It just makes me proud to do this job," Payne said. "We've got a great crew here, we get things done that not a lot of normal crews wouldn't be able to get done. They give us the impossible, and we get it done every time."
And the program is getting it done despite a cutback in workers, due to the pandemic.
"During this situation right now, we had to lay off a few people to keep safety measures," Payne said, "so our employees and our clients wont' get sick. So we're kind of a skeleton crew right now, with increased meals. We went from 750 to over 1,000 meals, plus the box lunches. And we've got a great crew, and I'm really proud of our crew. Not only the kitchen staff, but the rest of the crew, and going through all this."
Payne reassured the clients and community that they're always going to be there for them, and are going the extra mile to make sure everything is taken care of for the seniors.
"We are always going to be here for the seniors," Payne said, "and right now, we're working extra hard to cover what needs to be covered, and we're taking on extra clients to do this, We're going to make sure everyone's getting fed that we can possibly handle."
And the work done by the organization and its program is an invaluable service to those that need it and are very grateful for the service.
"This is imperative," Updike said. "It's very rewarding as a staff member at SSP that we can service these clients. And again, the client base it growing. I get multiple calls every day. The clients that are calling me are so eternally grateful that we're there, and we're helping. We did deliver 325 packs to Skyline Towers here in town, so we just kind of flooded them with additional food that can hold them over. So we're doing everything we can to keep these senior fed, keep them healthy, keep them in their homes. Everybody I talk to, I just encourage stay at home, we're gonna be there, try to keep them informed of everything we've got rolling out. We're expecting additional meals that will be coming in, thousands of meals that we'll continue to provide the community with. So, again, we are servicing Madison County; we do service parts of St. Clair County. So again, we have 750 current clients."
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