CoA serving seniors during pandemic

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

With senior citizens the population most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Van Wert County Council on Aging has had to get creative in how it ensures its target constituency receives the services they need. 

Samantha Turnwald, administrative assistant for the Council on Aging, said the changes have been considerable.

“We’re used to seeing the Senior Center busy, busy,” she said, adding that, while the center used to be filled with people taking Zumba classes, playing cards, eating lunch, or just socializing, now it’s empty, except for Council on Aging staff members. “Now, it’s going to them (clients); it’s a different kind of busy.”

Instead of the many pre-pandemic social and fitness functions held at the Senior Center, Council on Aging staff and volunteers now provide outreach services to low-income seniors and those with physical and emotional needs.

The need for volunteers has also changed, Turnwald noted, instead of needing volunteers to help with Bingo and other social functions in-house, the Council on Aging volunteers now deliver food and other necessary items to seniors, was well as check up on those who live on their own and provide socialization (at a safe distance) to seniors isolated in their homes because of the threat of exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

“There has actually been an increased need for volunteers, since we’re going to them, instead of them coming to us,” she explained.

Turnwald said that, in addition to volunteers, the Van Wert Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol has been very helpful, with Patrol dispatchers fielding calls from senior citizens, making calls to check on seniors who live alone, and troopers helping deliver food and other needed items.

Fortunately, the public has been generous in donating items such as toilet paper, wipes and other cleaning supplies, face masks, and other needed items. Seniors who need any of those items are welcome to call the center at 419.238.5011 for assistance.

“It’s been nice to see the community step in together and work for one common thing,” Turnwald said, adding that the Council on Aging staff is very grateful to those who donate items and volunteer their time to provide services to the county’s senior citizens.

One service that hasn’t changed much are the Council’s transportation services taking seniors to medical appointments and dialysis sessions, for instance. The services are available to all county residents 60 or older that live on their own.

“We’re still making trips to Lima and Fort Wayne on a daily basis,” Turnwald said “That hasn’t changed.

Instead of having meals at the Center, though, now food is being taken to seniors by volunteers and Patrol troopers, along with items seniors may need, but either can’t find or are transportation challenged.

Food remains a major item, with members of the Ohio National Guard unit in Lima delivering food in bulk from the Northwest Ohio Food Bank to the center. Patrol troopers and volunteers, including members of LifeHouse Church in Van Wert, then sort and deliver the food to seniors in need.

“We try to reach our lower-income base of seniors first,” Turnwald said of food deliveries, before providing service to other seniors who may not be able to get out to buy food.

It has sometimes taken some creativity to be able to provide services with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. One example is the Zumba lessons that were provided at the center. Those are still provided, but now the instructor teaches it virtually, using Zoom software.

Turnwald and Matthews said the community has appreciated the efforts being made to serve the county’s senior citizens.

“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the community,” Turnwald said.

However, one area that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic is the fundraising needs of the Council. With the Council’s tax levy providing only about 60 percent of its budget, the inability to hold the center’s fundraising events has been a big problem.

With clients, many of them low income or on a fixed income, are able to donate only a small fraction of the remaining 40 percent the levy doesn’t cover, the inability to hold public fundraisers has severely impacted the Council’s efforts to raise money to fund its many services.

Matthews said he hopes the community will realize the need and make donations to help the Council fulfill its mission. Donations may be mailed to the Van Wert County Council on Aging, 220 Fox Road, Van Wert, OH 45891.

One thing the pandemic has done, Turnwald said, is make many people more appreciative of the simple things in life.

“I think we’ve all learned an appreciation for things, those little things, things like toilet paper, wipes, spending time with family,” she noted.