Money woes end one senior citizen meal program, threaten others
By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News
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"We always hold out hope that maybe we can find a solution," said Tim Hockett, Olympic Community Action Program executive director, explaining what he called an "extremely difficult decision."
"You can't fight a war and help pay for two major hurricanes in the country and maintain the same level of services here."
Gas and food prices, which contribute to soaring expenses to run the programs, are at the heart of matter, he said.
OlyCAP has racked up a $3,000 deficit across the North Olympic Peninsula system for nutrition programs — which serve food in community centers or senior centers — and is running a deficit of $20,000 for Meals on Wheels served across Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Hockett said that the Brinnon nutrition program serves only 12 people each day, on average, and has served as few as six a day, far below the break-even number of 30 daily.
That is the lowest attendance of any of the group's nutrition programs in the two counties, Hockett said.
"The most remote sites are the least efficient," Hockett said.
"It's just a fact of the economy, and the difference of providing services to so few people in a remote location."
The Brinnon community's Meals on Wheels program, will now deliver frozen meals — instead of freshly cooked ones — to between 9 and 12 homebound seniors.
It will be maintained, Hockett said.
Forks also low
Brinnon's problems are symptomatic of other Peninsula community nutrition programs, he said, such as the one in Forks, which on average serves only 15 meals a day.
"The fact is, after Brinnon, it would be the lowest [attendance]," he said, adding that Forks' program was actually showing an upward trend of use with its new community center and kitchen.
Remote Peninsula communities such as Gardiner, Clallam Bay and Coyle receive no services at all, Hockett said.
In Jefferson County, the most well-attended nutrition program can be found at the Tri-Area Community Center, where about 35 are served daily.
At the Port Townsend Community Center, an average of about 25 are served daily.
Hockett said that a high turnover of cooks in the remote community contributed to his decision to end the nutrition program.
He plans to meet with the three Jefferson County commissioners to attempt to find a solution.
Sharing meals programs with Brinnon School using the school cook is a possibility, he said.
Both the school meal program and Meals on Wheels are operated by OlyCAP, Hockett said.
The school expects to serve 25 students when class resumes in September.
"We have to have both a reliable staffing system and a reasonable expectation that the average attendance could justify the programs," he said.
Hockett said that in Brinnon during 2007, about 1,800 meals were served at the Community Center, compare to more than 4,000 in 1997.
"There are lots of people who are not happy about it," he said, "but over the course of time, attendance at the Brinnon Senior Nutrition Program has declined rather dramatically."
Quilcene's senior nutrition program closed about eight years ago for similar reasons, he said.
Little prior notice
Hockett said little notice was given in the Brinnon decision because it would only have delayed the inevitable.
"There is no way for us to come up with some alternative program for them, and it would just increase our deficits," he said.
That sudden decision did not sit well with George Sickel, 64, who volunteers for the program and partakes in its meals.
"As a founding member of the Brinnon Community Center Advisory Board, I find this action to be one of the most egregious acts of poor management and lack of personal sensitivity that I have ever witnessed," Sickel wrote in an e-mail to the Jefferson County commissioners Tuesday.
"OlyCAP senior management should be called on the carpet by our Jefferson County commissioners for committing this outrageous act."
Considering steps to take
Dennis Richards, interim county administrator, said he was surprised to hear the news and expects the county commissioners to talk about it during their regular meeting on Monday.
Richards said that county officials are "working on that to see what steps we can take to help the people down there."
Sickel said Hockett should contact the advisory board, which oversees the community center and its activities.
While he agrees that nutrition program attendance is declining, volunteers should have been consulted and made aware of any decision beforehand, he said.
Hockett, however, said, "It would be better for people to swallow if they have a lengthy process. But you can't change the outcome."
Advisory Committee Chairman Stan Walter agreed with Sickel, saying that a discussion with the panel was appropriate.
"We basically are upset because they didn't talk to us, and we wonder about the accounting basis and why they did it," Walter said.
He added that, at 70, he also uses the program, and is a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels, which covers 30 miles for those it serves.
"It's changed my quality of life, and the nutrition extends my life," he said.
Uerla Coone, 82, who has attended the Brinnon nutrition program since 1984 with her 86-year-old husband, Richard, said she will miss not only the food, but also the social interaction she has had with fellow seniors at the community center.
"It is still a social affair, and we need an activity that is vital to seniors," said Coone, who recalls a time when up to 50 Brinnon seniors attended the community center meals.
"It's a shame. This may be a wake-up call to the community itself to help support something that is a big necessity."
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Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: June 18. 2008 9:00PM