Meals on Wheels is hot on pandemic precautions
ABOUT 100 vulnerable people per day are getting their food from Meals on Wheels.
Run by The Guernsey Voluntary Service, MoW has had to change the way it operates in light of the Covid pandemic.
‘We would normally be taking out about 90 meals per day, so it’s not a huge increase, but understandable,’ said GVS manager Mandy Le Bachelet.
‘In normal circumstances some of the people would come to our Jubilee Day Centre twice a week or maybe eat at a cafe, but these are currently closed.’
MoW previously had the island divided into four sectors and each would be serviced by two volunteers in one car.
The food is prepared at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital and volunteers would previously collect it in hot boxes from there.
‘We can’t have people going back and forth to the hospital at the moment so the food is delivered to The Jubilee Day Centre at Potter’s Corner, St Sampson’s, in one go,’ said Mrs Le Bachelet.
‘We’ve now divided the island into eight sectors, with only one volunteer in each car.’
Volunteers do not enter the Jubilee Day Centre and its manager, Josie Breton, takes the hot boxes out to their cars wearing full PPE.
At the end of their round, volunteers return the hot boxes to the Jubilee Day Centre where the outside is sanitised before they are returned to the hospital by van on a single trip.
The majority of volunteers are 70-plus.
During the last lockdown many were self-isolating but this time around most have had their vaccinations through the Public Health programme.
It was hoped that younger volunteers could be vaccinated soon as essential workers.
Volunteers too had full PPE. Offshore Electronics had provided face shields for them to wear while aprons, hand sanitiser, wipes and the likes had come courtesy of The Guernsey Round Table.
‘We try to leave the food at the door or in a porch if we can but if volunteers have to go into someone’s home they will.
‘They don’t have the time to chat for long, but we always check on how the person is.
‘If the volunteer sees any reason for concern they will call us and we will report it to the family or maybe the social worker.’
Meals are subsidised and people pay £3.30 per day for a main course and pudding.
The PEH deals with all dietary requirements.
Meals can be obtained by medical referral, though a potential service user will not need to go to their doctor as decisions are usually made on their medical record.
‘For whatever reason, sometimes meals are brought back and they can’t be returned to the PEH,’ said Mrs Le Bachelet.
‘It means I can vouch for the fact that they are lovely.’
