By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Senior centers across Ohio will likely be some of the last places opening up for services in the state’s pandemic response plan.
The Wood County Committee on Aging is putting together protocols for opening its eight senior centers – whenever that may be.
“I am not optimistic we will be opening on June 1,” Denise Niese, executive director of the Wood County Committee on Aging, said last week during an online meeting of the board.
“Our constituency is the most vulnerable,” she said. “While we are wanting to get people back in our buildings, we cannot put them at risk.”
The state planning discussions have grouped senior centers with long-term care facilities, Niese said. But the needs are different, she said.
“There need to be separate conversations, so we can put some protocols in place that fit our industry,” Niese said.
Meanwhile, the Wood County Committee on Aging will continue delivering more meals to seniors’ homes. More than 29,000 meals were delivered in April. Of those 19,693 were hot meals each weekday lunch, plus frozen meals for evenings and weekends.
The senior center also packed up and delivered nearly 10,000 shelf-stable meals.
At this point, WCCOA has exhausted the Older Americans Act and Nutrition Services Incentive Programs funding for 2020. The agency was awarded $73,832 in Families First CARES Act COVID-19 funding. This was drawn down to cover costs associated with 12,686 meals delivered in April.
Niese requested to transfer the remaining $29,231 in Older Americans Act funds that was awarded for Medical Escort be transferred to Title IIIC to cover costs for home delivered meals served in May.
“We have now exhausted our federal allocation,” Niese told the board.
On March 16, when the senior centers began the modified home delivered meals model, WCCOA averaged delivery of 550 hot home delivered meals daily (Monday through Friday) with an average of 320 frozen meals each week.
Currently, hot home delivered meals are averaging 701 per day with frozen meals averaging 1,074 per week in April. In the past six weeks, the low hot meals preparation amount was 576, and the high was 795.
Niese also reported on consumer wellness calls performed by the social services staff. Between March 16 and April 30, Social Services staff completed 740 wellness calls to seniors.
“We’re doing safety checks to see if they need anything,” she said.
Also during last week’s meeting, the WCCOA board heard an update on the new senior center construction in Bowling Green, from Jim Stainbrook, project liaison on the building project.
“It is going very well,” Stainbrook said. “Footers are being poured starting today.”
The construction is on course to have the new senior center open in late January or early February next year.
