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Meals on Wheels driving for volunteers

Meals on Wheels (Sudbury) is looking for more volunteers to deliver meals to frail seniors. The organization has approximately 40 volunteer delivery drivers who deliver fresh meals each weekday to 120-150 Sudbury-area clients.

Meals on Wheels (Sudbury) is looking for more volunteers to deliver meals to frail seniors.

The organization has approximately 40 volunteer delivery drivers who deliver fresh meals each weekday to 120-150 Sudbury-area clients.

In addition, frozen meals are delivered for use on weekends and holidays. The agency is now serving 36,000 meals annually.

The agency's volunteers themselves have an average age of 70, Colleen Fraser, manager, administrative and financial services, said in a press release.

Meals on Wheels volunteers are mainly drivers, although some help in the office and kitchen.

“I was looking for something to get me out of the house, and I love what I'm doing now,” Sheila Kennedy, who volunteers her time to deliver meals, said in the press release.

The organization was highlighted by the North East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which provides it with some of its funding.

Meals on Wheels is just one of 71 community services funded by the North East LHIN to provide help like assisted living, adult day care, home care support, transportation services, and meal delivery.

In fact, the LHIN invests in 22 agencies so that close to 200,000 meals can be delivered to more than 2,500 northeastern seniors. Health care and healthy eating are intertwined, the press release said.

Services like meal delivery or home care enable a senior to live outside of institutions at home as long as safely possible, and help to decrease alternate level of care (ALC) numbers.

“Community support services are essential in helping to meet the needs of seniors in community,” Louise Paquette, CEO of the NE LHIN, said.

“This is especially important as health care delivery shifts to community-based and patient-centred, as described in Ontario’s Action Plan for Health Care.” The plan’s goal is to build a local health care system that provides the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”

Anyone interested in helping Meals on Wheels (Sudbury), can contact Fraser at [email protected].

Posted by Arron Pickard


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