| |
Today's Elderly Nutrition Programs trace
their roots back to Great Britain during World War II (1939). During the
Blitz, when German planes bombarded English soil, many people in Britain
lost their homes and, subsequently, their ability to cook meals for
themselves. The Women's Volunteer Service for Civil Defense responded to
this emergency by preparing and delivering meals to their disadvantaged
neighbors. These women also brought refreshments in canteens
to servicemen during World War II. The canteens came to be known as "Meals
on Wheels." Thus, the first organized nutrition program was born.
Following the war, the United States embarked on its own
experimental meal program. The first American home-delivered meal program
began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January of 1954. At the request of
the Philadelphia Health & Welfare Council, and funded by a grant from the
Henrietta Tower Wurtz Foundation, Margaret Toy, a social worker in
Philadelphia's Lighthouse Community Center, pioneered a program to provide
nourishment that met the dietary needs of homebound seniors and other
"shut-ins" in the area who otherwise would
have to go hungry.
As is the case today, many participants were people who
did not require hospitalization, but who simply needed a helping hand in
order to maintain their independence. Most of the volunteers were high
school students, who were dubbed "Platter Angels." The "Platter Angels"
would prepare, package, and deliver food to the elderly and disabled through
their community. The daily delivery consisted of one nutritionally balanced
hot meal to eat at lunchtime and a dinner, consisting of a cold sandwich and
milk along with varying side dishes.
In an effort both to cover costs and to maintain the elders' sense of
dignity, the program charged a fee ranging from 40 to 80 cents per day based
on the individual's ability to pay. The delivery was so efficient that
seniors often would jokingly complain to volunteers if the meal arrived only
a few minutes off schedule. Had there been no Lighthouse program, many of
the seniors would have had to remain in the hospital simply to ensure they
received the nutrition needed to regain their strength. The task of
identifying those who were truly in need of home delivered meals was more
difficult than preparing and delivering the meals themselves.
As stated, the program was set up to help a very specific
element of the community; it fed those who, without the service, would
otherwise go hungry. The Philadelphia Lighthouse turned to the Visiting
Nurse Society (VNS), the Philadelphia Department of Public Assistance, or
hospital social services to refer potential clients who were eligible for
services. These agencies were able to locate prospective participants, since
the lists of names of recently released hospital patients were readily
accessible to them. Another successful method of identifying eligible
members was through concerned neighbors who provided the names of needy
seniors in their communities.
Columbus, Ohio, was the second city in the U.S. to
establish a community based meals program. Building on the model in
Philadelphia, a federation of women's clubs formed throughout the town to
inform them of possible participants for the meal service. Then a group of
"inspectors" from the associated women's clubs visited the persons on the
list. The inspectors evaluated whether or not the seniors had the ability to
pay for the meals and charged on a sliding scale, from $.80 to $2.00 a day.
All the meals were prepared by local restaurants and delivered by taxicabs
during the week. On weekends high school students filled the posts.
The city of Rochester, New York, began its home-delivered
meal program in 1958. It was originally a pilot project initiated by the New
York Department of Health and administered by the Visiting Nurse Service.
The Visiting Nurse Service charged participants 50 cents to $1.85 per meal
for dues and the Bureau of Chronic Diseases and Geriatrics of the New York
Department of Health paid for the remaining costs. Eventually, cities
nationwide followed with similar programs.
|
|
