THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 29, 1994 TAG: 9412240128
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
A few months ago, Alice Bishop and Katie Dunn ``reached their limit'' in preparing meals.
The sisters, who live together in a Little Creek apartment, are both in their 90s. Frail and in declining health, the two women must use walkers to get around the house. They rarely leave home, except for doctors' appointments.
Household chores are out of the question.
Until October, the younger sister, Bishop, was still able to drive to the grocery store, navigate the aisles and bring groceries back home. She cooked every meal.
But since early fall, after suffering a debilitating illness, she has been unable to shop or cook.
At first, ``I didn't know what we were going to do,'' this 92-year-old North Carolina native said.
A health-care worker suggested Mobile Meals of Norfolk. Now, every day about noon, volunteers arrive at the sisters' door with hot dinners, sandwiches, drinks and desserts.
Some days, ``those people with a good heart'' are the only visitors the sisters have.
``If we didn't have these meals, we'd be in a nursing home,'' Bishop said. ``And we're fighting that so hard.''
For the last 20 years, Mobile Meals of Norfolk has made it possible for aging senior citizens like Bishop and Dunn to stay in their own homes rather than being forced into entering a long-term care facility.
The program, now managed by Sentara Life Care Corp., was organized in 1974 as a community outreach project by a group of physicians' wives.
``We saw a need in the community to provide a service for the homebound that would allow them to remain in their own homes and maintain their independence for longer periods of time,'' explained Madeline Sly, president at the time of the founding Norfolk Academy of Medicine Auxiliary. ``We wanted to direct it toward people who are financially able, but circumstantially unable, to cook for themselves . . . people who did not want to depend on the government or other subsidies for help.''
The first meals were prepared in the kitchen of the Community Mental Health Center at Eastern Virginia Medical School. At the time, the nonprofit program had only seven clients. Volunteers from 37 churches and civic groups were recruited to deliver the meals to them.
As the program grew and began taking on more clients, meal preparation was moved to Lake Taylor Community Hospital. In 1991, when Sentara took on the day-to-day management of the burgeoning program, the offices and meal preparation were transferred to Sentara Village at Norfolk, off Newtown Road.
``Sentara and the auxiliary shared a common goal,'' Sly explained. ``(Merging) was a way of looking to the future . . . to continue our services.''
Today, for $21 a week, about 110 homebound clients receive two meals - a hot dinner and cold supper - each Monday through Friday. Volunteers, who use their own transportation, still deliver them.
``I felt like I needed something to do, and I wanted to help somebody else,'' said Paul Webster, a 70-year-old Suburban Park retiree who began delivering meals four years ago.
``You see a lot of people and get to know how others are living,'' he explained. ``Who knows, maybe I'll need the help someday.''
John Doyle, another volunteer, said he sometimes takes his children with him on delivery rounds.
``It's a good way to teach them about volunteering and caring for their family,'' said Doyle, a 30-year-old father of two said. A member of First Christian Fellowship Church, Doyle is an electronics technician for the Navy.
``A lot of the younger generation don't have respect for their elders,'' he said. ``They need to see how much their help is needed.''
In addition to bringing seniors a nutritional meal, the volunteers also offer another important health benefit - daily human contact, noted Rosann Place, program director.
``Every day our clients know they're going to have a visitor,'' Place said. ``They have a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to get dressed. A lot of people have microwaves now . . . so they probably could manage to get some sort of meal. But it's that human contact that is just so important.''
During the last few years, volunteers have called the rescue squad to aid ill and injured clients, and alerted family members of faulty heating systems.
``We provide more than meals,'' Place emphasized. ``We provide a community service. We're checking on these people every day to make sure they're OK.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Volunteers like Elwood Robinson use their own transportation to make
deliveries for Mobile Meals of Norfolk.
by CNB