WILLIAMS LAKE, BC - For those who are unable to shop or cook due to medical reasons, eating nutritious meals on a regular basis can be a major challenge. Many find that the only option is to live in a long-term care facility, a restricting and often costly alternative to living at home. However, thanks to the Williams Lake & District Seniors Activity Centre Society, house-bound seniors and others in the area who need the service can enjoy three meals a week in their own homes. The Meals on Wheels program run by the Society delivers meals to an average of 22 clients every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at a cost to the recipient of $4.00 per meal.
"We have about 30 volunteer drivers, a lot of whom are retired couples," says Mary Krajczar, local coordinator of the program, who monitors the diets of the clients and supervises the volunteers. "Many of the people who benefit from this program are seniors, but there are also some who have recently been discharged from the hospital and who need a little extra help to get back on their feet." The meals are prepared according to Canada Health Food Guidelines and include meat, potatoes, vegetables, salad, soup, bread and dessert. They are delivered within an hour of preparation to the recipients, who live within a 14 kilometre radius of the city. "Actually," says Krajczar, "we're down to 18 clients right now, but we're always happy to get more."
Meals on Wheels, an international organization, has been in Williams Lake since the early eighties, but since 1992 it has been receiving additional financial assistance from the Community Partnership Program - Continuing Care, an initiative of the BC Ministry of Health. The purpose of the initiative is to assist in funding creative, innovative community-based programs which provide services to clients of the Continuing Care Division of the Ministry and, in so doing, to encourage collaboration with and between local community groups. During the first year it was funded, Meals on Wheels received $6000 from the Ministry. This past year, $6550 was provided by the Community Partnership Program. The funding provides a subsidy of about $1.14 per meal, thus enabling Meals on Wheels to provide their service below cost.
"This is a great program which supplies an extremely valuable service to our community," comments Alison Ruault, the Continuing Care Manager at Health Unit #15 in Williams Lake who is responsible for overseeing the six Community Partnership Programs in her unit. "The clients are served nutritious meals which help them to maintain a variety in their diet. It's certainly a very worthwhile service." Cariboo South MLA David Zirnhelt, speaking on behalf of BC Health Minister Paul Ramsey, echoes those sentiments. "We are very fortunate here in Williams Lake to have this much-needed service. Not only is it meeting very real needs in the community, but it is also helping us to cut down on the costs of health care by providing an alternative to the expense of institutional care. This is in line with the Ministry of Health's New Directions program, which is seeking to delegate more authority to the regions and put health care decisions back in the hands of the local community, where they should be."
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