Duter: Volunteers are cornerstone of agency in Sun City
Posted
By Cheryl Duter, Sun City Meals on Wheels executive director
I often extoll praise on the Sun City Meals on Wheels volunteers. But today, I want to highlight a good news story that involves a very dedicated volunteer team.
We have many clients in the Sun City and Youngtown area who are elderly and have health conditions that make it very difficult for them to live alone. Our volunteers are trained to notify the volunteer coordinator when there is a problem so that family members can be engaged to help.
Over the past 2-plus years, one volunteer team became very involved with one of our clients. The couple were frail, and the husband suffered from dementia. As the volunteers watched the husband’s declining health, and the frail wife’s efforts to care for him, they became involved with the extended family to bring Hospice care and a move to an assisted living/memory care facility for the husband. Sadly, the husband eventually passed away.
During this period and for the next year, our volunteers continued to visit the wife regularly and to assist with her daily life requirements. They became a lifeline to her, even after she took a fall, had surgery and needed to rehabilitate in a care center.
The good news is that this Meals on Wheels volunteer couple and the family were able to work together for our client to have the best possible outcome. She is now in an assisted living group home receiving the long-term and constant care she requires. The family and our volunteers are also working together to make sure her Sun City home and its contents are managed, and that the client will be secure for the remainder of her life. Had it not been for the two volunteers, things could have taken a much different turn.
Sun City Meals on Wheels does not just deliver meals. We serve as a lifeline for many. That daily visit from a volunteer with a smile and a meal can be the difference between a happy ending and one that is not quite so happy.
I just had to share this with the community. I cannot say enough about how good the Sun City Meals on Wheels volunteers are!
