Beyond the service basics
Luis Pena
Typically, Wyn Dee Stone’s volunteering efforts stop at delivering
food to seniors.
But once, the 38-year-old Newport Beach real estate agent and
single mom’s work with Seniors Meals and Services Inc. went far
beyond the typical.
The first tip that all was not usual was when her client’s door
was not open like it normally was. Stone called out her name, and the
senior said that she was stuck but that she was OK. Stone took no
chances and immediately called paramedics for help.
“She had fallen between the couch and a table and cut her face
open, and she was on a breathing machine that she got disconnected
from, and I guess she just didn’t want to overreact, but she was
under-reacting for her injury,” said Stone, who has worked with the
group for two years. “So [the paramedics] said, ‘Good thing you
called.’”
It is that kind of extra effort that exemplifies the program’s
volunteers.
Seniors Meals and Services Inc. provides the service to homebound
seniors in the community. It is so popular that there is a waiting
list to get into the program because it helps to keep homebound
seniors living independently.
The group has strict guidelines for those who want to receive the
meals. Seniors must be homebound, which means that they cannot
prepare their own meals or that they do not have anyone to help them
such as a live-in caregiver, said Nicole Westergaard, a case manager
at the organization.
The group’s goal is to keep seniors living independently for as
long as possible by delivering the meals to them, said Kimberly
Morgan, volunteer coordinator
The deliveries are not done by paid workers but by the volunteers
who deliver 12 meals to 12 seniors on their routes.
Stone began volunteering after learning about the program on TV.
She said she didn’t volunteer just to help the homebound seniors
out but also for her son’s benefit.
“I wanted to be an example for my son, that you need to make time
for people that need you,” Stone said.
Volunteering is a way for Stone to give back to the community.
“The No. 1 comment that everybody says why they can’t is time,”
she said. “Two hours a week at the most to make sure that an elderly
person is fed for that day. To me there is no excuse not to have
time.”
The seniors appreciate the volunteer’s help, said 94-year-old
Olive Newcomer of Costa Mesa.
Newcomer uses a walker and needs a hip replacement, so she can’t
move around to do her own shopping and cooking.
“They are very conscious,” Newcomer said, adding she would
probably be in a nursing home if it weren’t for the program and its
volunteers.
Kathleen Cole, 80, who is also homebound, says that the
organization is wonderful because it helps keep her independence and
it helps to keep her living expenses down.
“I’d probably have to go to a nursing program,” Cole said.
Volunteers are needed in Costa Mesa. For information about
volunteering, call Kimberly at (714) 891-0804.
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