Local senior centers will continue providing curbside service

Friday, May 1, 2020

SIKESTON — As Missouri re-opens Monday, one group that will continue the way it’s been operating during the coronavirus pandemic is the local senior nutrition centers.

When the pandemic was declared and social distancing began in March, like all businesses, senior centers modified their way of operations, too, by closing their dine-in services and providing curbside services to their clients.

Some centers have even seen an increase in the number of meals they’re serving.

“We started our curbside service on March 23 and have picked up 38 new clients,” said Lisa Hicks, administrator of the OAKS Center in Sikeston.

Hicks said the Sikeston center has not been given a date to re-open dining services.

The Sikeston center provides curbside service from 10 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday in front of the facility located at 305 Cresap St. It continues to deliver meals to homebound senior citizens.

In addition, Hicks said the center has been providing flyers to its clients to help them during the pandemic. Some of the topics addressed include eating healthy during the stay-at-home order and safe food handling.

Lacie Jackson, second cook at the OAKS Center in New Madrid, said the center has seen an increase of 10 to 15 people its serving. Curbside service is offered from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Jackson said the center will continue to provide curbside meals until at least June 1.

Kathleen Jackson, assistant administrator at the East Prairie OAKS Center, said the center is serving about the same number of meals as it did before the outbreak.

“The congregates that did come are the same who are using our curbside service,” Jackson said. “The number of meals we serve depends on what we fix for the day.”

For example, the average is 15 per day, but one day last week they served 35 meals, she said. The East Prairie nutrition center provides curbside service from from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Clients just pull their vehicles through the back of the center and the meals are brought to their vehicles, she said.

Jackson said a date to resume dine-in services has not yet been established.

“Our seniors are concerned about coming in to dine and they’re scared (about the virus),” Jackson said. Betty Oliver, administrator of the OAKS Center in Charleston, said she isn’t sure when the center will resume its dine-in services until its board meets.

“I myself recommend to stay closed for a little while longer because the people we are working with are the senior citizens — the high-risk group — and if it works we’ll keep it going on for a little longer,” Oliver said.

The main difference in operations is the center can’t hold its monthly activities and fundraisers, but Oliver said she doesn’t see how those can resume while social distancing. Activities often include putting together jigsaw puzzles, playing cards and sitting in circles at the tables and talking, she said.

Social distancing would be next to impossible at this time, she said.

“The whole reason they want to come in is to socialize and they’re not going to be able to keep from doing that if we open the dining room,” Oliver said.

Like Hicks, Oliver said Aging Matters provides information about COVID-19 and nutrition to share with the senior citizens.

“All of homebound clients are really doing OK,” Oliver said, adding the center services 149 hot meals on a daily basis to the homebound and once a week it serves a box of frozen meals to 15 clients in Bertrand. There are between 28 and 36 who utilize the curbside service, which is offered from 11 a.m to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“All of our congregates have been coming to the curbside delivery,” Oliver said, noting home delivery routes has picked up by two or three people.

Clients pull their vehicles up to the center’s door and a volunteer takes the meal out to them, she said.

The pandemic has made day-to-day operations different for the center’s staff, she said. They did lose some volunteers and some have also been very faithful to the community, Oliver said.

“We’re still doing OK, and our business is fine; it’s just that we can’t get together and see each other,” Oliver said. “… We miss our clients as much as they miss us, but we want to to make sure everyone stays safe and healthy.”

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