Senior shut-ins more isolated in wake of COVID-19 concerns

Image
  • Senior shut-ins more isolated in wake of COVID-19 concerns
    Senior shut-ins more isolated in wake of COVID-19 concerns
  • Above, (from right), Judith and Clifford Hathaway deliver in Como-Pickton for Meal A Day. At left, Tim Gee delivers on a route that takes him through the west side of Sulphur Springs. All three drivers say the senior shut-ins to whom they deliver are even more isolated now than they were before COVID-19 restrictions. Courtesy/Karon Weatherman
    Above, (from right), Judith and Clifford Hathaway deliver in Como-Pickton for Meal A Day. At left, Tim Gee delivers on a route that takes him through the west side of Sulphur Springs. All three drivers say the senior shut-ins to whom they deliver are even more isolated now than they were before COVID-19 restrictions. Courtesy/Karon Weatherman
Body

Feeding 150-160 people a day, Meal A Day delivers hot meals to senior citizen shut-ins throughout Hopkins County. For some of those seniors, their Meal A Day driver is the only person with whom they have contact. Already socially isolated, COVID-19, or coronavirus, is beginning to take a toll on the elderly clients.

Karon Weatherman, executive director for the Sulphur Springs Senior Citizens Center, which houses the Meal A Day program, said her biggest concern is “that we won’t be able to continue.”

Making sure that these seniors receive the food and supplies they need is important to Weatherman and the program’s drivers.

“A lot of them just don’t have family, or their family just doesn’t take care of them,” she said.

Clifford, 76, and Judith, 76, Hathaway of Dike have been delivering meals through Meal A Day for six years. Currently, they deliver route 6 in the Como-Pickton area the fourth and fifth Thursdays of the week and fill in to drive other routes when needed. They also cook every Tuesday.

“A lot of them are quite alone and lonely,” Clifford Hathaway said of the Meal A Day clients.

And “sometimes” the people who receive the meals are seeing less contact with the outside world since COVID-19 mandates have gone into effect.

“Because of the virus going around, we have one couple, they have a little refrigerator outside their door,” Judith Hathaway said. “They have us put their food in the refrigerator, and we don’t have any contact at all.”

Another client is “really sick,” Clifford Hathaway explained. The Hathaways handle his meals with gloves and leave them in a car outside the home.

Beverly, 61, and Ricky, 63, Haygood of Brashear drive their route on Mon days in west Sulphur Springs. They’ve been making meal deliveries with Meal A Day for about three years.

Beverly Haygood said that on their route, there are people who keep coolers outside their homes for the deliveries. Others, she said, come to the door to chat.

“They open the door and we chit-chat there, but it’s kind of a lonely thing,” she said.

One lady, who Beverly Haygood said will be 100 years old April 10, lives on her own.

“She has the gift of gab,” she said. “We have a ball visiting with her. Now, we can’t interact that much.”

Before COVID-19, Beverly Haygood said she and her husband, who does all the driving, would sit and visit with the Meal A Day clients. They each have their own connections with different people along their route, she said.

“We look forward to see them,” she added. “We look forward to it every week.”

Now, she said, they talk to the seniors through the front doors, and visits are shorter than they would like.

Tim Gee, 71, of Sulphur Springs has been volunteering with Meal A Day for just over five years. He drives route 3 on the west side of Sulphur Springs, as well, but on Thursdays.

I’ve noticed [a difference], especially with the more elderly,” Gee said.

Gee delivers to the same nearly 100-year-old on his Thursday route who the Haygoods deliver to on their Monday route.

“She, at this time of the year, normally likes to sit out on a little patio. … She’s not been able to get out,” Gee said. “They’ve warned most of the elderly to stay inside. She’s experienced a lot of loneliness.”

And, he said, that loneliness has become greater in the past weeks after COVID-19 concerns have forced the elderly clients to have as little contact with others as possible.

“They generally just want to talk to somebody,” Gee said. “They’re all interested in how I feel. I’m a relatively healthy person, and I’m delivering to people who have multiple health problems. It’s an eye-opening experience for myself.”

With some of his clients, Gee said, he can talk to them for a few minutes, if they have a glass door.

“We’ll talk through the glass door. I have one lady who sits and waits, and we’ll talk through the glass door for 3 or 4 minutes,” he said.

On a normal day, Gee said he tries to help the Meal A Day clients whenever possible, stating that one client was having trouble replacing a screw that had fallen out of a piece of furniture, so he took care of it.

“I try to help out the single people as much as I can. A lady who has health problems who can’t get out of her chair, she had to post a sign for emergency medical in her window. She didn’t have any tape,” he said. “They’re [the tasks] are small things to you and I, but they’re pretty major to these folks.”

Most of the client, Gee said, are very appreciative that meals are still being delivered, but his concern is how long they will be able to continue.

“I just don’t know how some of these seniors will survive without us,” Weatherman agreed. “ A lot of them have already told us that they don’t know what they would do without us.”

Monetary donations and prayers for all the cooks and drivers who volunteer with Meal A Day is what they need most from the community, Weatherman said, and filling volunteer positions as cooks and drivers, when there are openings.