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Making the rounds: program lives on
STAFF PHOTO BY SARAH SCHILLACI
Meals on Wheels Director Jeanne Martin (center, pictured with some of the PVH kitchen staff) had to scramble to save the program after the board of directors announced the closing of
Pascack
Valley
Hospital .
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Each of the apartments in Hillsdale House is equipped with a buzzing doorbell. It makes things even more efficient for the already very efficient Owen Cassidy.
BZZZZZT!
“Meals on Wheels!”
Sometimes the door is ajar, sometimes is merely unlocked, but Cassidy is always welcomed in hastily.
Cassidy already has the resident’s meal in his hands: sandwich, milk, fruit, and juice in one bag, and in a tin container, the hot meal of the day.
Meal goes on the table. Pleasantries exchanged. Next apartment.
BZZZZZT!
Once a mayor, now a retiree, Cassidy teems with enthusiasm for his work.
“I love it,” he says of being a Meals on Wheels volunteer. This is his second shift of the month. Normally Cassidy just takes the first Wednesday of the month, but there are five Wednesdays this October, and he’s happy to double up.
It’s also the last Wednesday that Cassidy will pick up the entrée sets from
Pascack
Valley
Hospital . From now on, Cassidy and his fellow Meals on Wheels volunteers will head to the Westwood CareOne facility.
Tsunami down the pike
Among all the casualties incurred by the closing of Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH), the Meals on Wheels program stands as a resolute survivor. An independent program, Meals on Wheels operated for more than three decades out of the PVH kitchen. As of Halloween, Meals on Wheels Director Jeanne Martin was in the process of switching over the routes to Westwood’s CareOne facility, a long-term care and assisted living facility.
‘There’s a tsunami of aging people who are going to need services.’
Jeanne Martin
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The team at PVH was like family for Martin; when her head cook first found out about the hospital’s closing, his concerns immediately centered on how the 120 housebound seniors would get their meals. Sitting in her closet-sized office in PVH on Halloween, Martin was decked out in orange and black, a witch’s hat by her side.
“It’s very, very sad on so many different levels,” she said.
Martin had to scramble after the board of directors announced PVH’s closing. She quickly scheduled meetings with caterers and facilities to find a place that could prepare meals for the seniors and have them ready for volunteers to pick up. CareOne, with its convenient location (across the parking lot from PVH), was Martin’s top pick. So far she’s been delighted by the collaboration. The food service department has been very accommodating to the seniors’ needs, a must for Meals on Wheels.
The kitchen at CareOne is slightly chaotic now as it adjusts to the volume. With only 20 patients left at PVH, the pace in the kitchen has slowed to a defeated drudge. The coolers are ready to be filled, and Martin pokes her finger into the heated tins to see what the meals are today: chicken breasts, salmon, stuffed shells.
“[The seniors] don’t waste food,” Martin promises. Whether it’s a residual World War II mentality or just a fear of going hungry, Martin says Meals on Wheels recipients use every last scrap of food they receive—if not for lunch, then leftover meat for a soup.
“A lot of [seniors] have fallen through the cracks. They’re housebound and without assistance,” she said. Martin believes that there are hundreds more seniors who could benefit from Meals on Wheels but feel a stigma about receiving the help. She believes that help shouldn’t wait to be requested.
Martin is adamant that Meals on Wheels serves a vital need in the Pascack and Northern valleys. There are roughly 40,000 residents ages 70 and up living in the areas, and that number is only expected to increase as the baby boomers become AARP-bound.
“There’s a tsunami of aging people who are going to need services,” Martin said, and the
Pascack
Valley lacks the long-standing senior organizations that exist in other parts of the county. Although
Bergen
County senior services will lend a hand, Martin sees a real need for a permanent senior organization.
PVH’s closing will put an even greater strain on the meager public assistance available to the elderly. She’s happy Meals on Wheels is continuing, but in the long run, she doesn’t think it’s enough.
Keep on keeping on
BZZZZZT!
This gentleman, Cassidy explains, loves to collect the state quarters. Cassidy has been on the lookout for
Wyoming , but hasn’t yet been able to get a hold of it. He hoists the near-empty cooler onto his shoulder and heads for the last room.
BZZZZZT!
“No extra food today!” Cassidy tells a woman standing several inches shy of five feet, the last delivery of the day. Although she doesn’t seem too disappointed, Cassidy notes that every time he comes to visit, she asks if he has a leftover snack or two.
He zips up the cooler, heads for the door, waves goodbye to the seniors in the lobby. He is fairly confident that, yes, the hospital will close, but that won’t change his monthly commitment to Meals on Wheels. His zippy back-road route between Hillsdale House and PVH will hardly change when he switches to CareOne next week. As long as there are meals to deliver, the doorbells will keep on ringing.
Sarah Schillaci's e-mail address is schillaci@northjersey.com
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