KINGSTON – Ulster County is launching a souped-up Meals-on-Wheels program for local seniors, which promises to be the best of its kind in New York State. The initiative adds an extra helping of services to the home delivery of hot food. County Executive Michael Hein announced on Thursday a $2 million contract with Gateway Industries, a local non-profit, spanning 18 months, to provide Meals-on-Wheels services with extra case work and screening.
“This contract provides more than what was done in the past, but working with nutritionists, the quality of food, the choices available to seniors, are all going to be enhanced,” Hein explained.
Traditional Meals-on-Wheels programs simply bring hot food to a senior’s front door. Hein’s plan brings a worker inside the house to check on the elderly, noting any changes in hygiene, pantry supplies, general health and demeanor, looking out for signs of dementia and dehydration, for example.
Included in the Gateway contract are hospital escorts and discharge treatment plan follow-ups.
Ulster Office for the Aging Director Kelly McMullen called the new arrangement “a meals program on steroids.”
“The seniors were given an ultimatum by a for-profit company; ‘take it or leave it, weekly delivery’,” McMullen said, referring to Prestige Services, the current provider.
“Mike Hein said ‘this is so much less than what our seniors deserve,’” McMullen continued. “What we need is a local provider who understands the human part of this system,” she said. “This program is about having a local human services agency who cares about the local community, getting through that door and having an engaged relationship with seniors. No one else in the state is doing this.”
“We’re very excited about the additional training for delivery personnel, to make sure that our seniors get the best possible care, because they deserve it,” Hein said.. “This is their community; they have been the pillars that we all go to for wisdom. Not only do we owe it to them, it’s simply the right thing to do. It’s going to become a model statewide.”
From left, McMullen, Hein, Gateway CEO Mohsen Badran, and Helen Edelstein, Gateway vice president
The program currently serves 300 seniors, but will now have a capacity for 400, thanks to a $100,000 budget boost from county funds. McMullen said the extra service add-on only amounts to 4-cents extra per plate in costs.
The waiting list has also been eliminated.
The expected launch date for the project is in June.
