Senior centers in Washington Co. reopen with COVID-19 safety precautions
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
Sharon and Pat Powers enjoy a sit-down meal Monday at the Canonsburg Senior Center. The eight senior centers in Washington County, which have been closed since March except for a brief period in the fall, reopened this week with abbreviated hours.
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
More than a dozen people were already seated around 11 a.m. when the Canonsburg center’s staff served a hot lunch at socially distanced tables.
CANONSBURG – Seeing friends, playing card games and enjoying a hot meal at the Canonsburg Senior Center has always been an experience that Pat and Sharon Powers enjoyed.
“Until this COVID came around,” Sharon said.
While the coronavirus pandemic temporarily shut down many businesses as COVID-19 began spreading across the country last spring, it has had a lasting effect on senior centers where interaction between older adults is critical.
The Canonsburg couple returned to the center on East Pike Street for a sit-down meal Monday morning for the first time in nearly a year due to the pandemic, so they relished the opportunity to chat with friends again from physically distanced tables in the main hall.
“It’s been a long time,” Pat said. “Everything’s different.”
The eight senior centers in Washington County, which have been closed since March except for a brief period in the fall, reopened Monday during abbreviated hours to offer meals and camaraderie between longtime friends. More than a dozen people were already seated around 11 a.m. when the Canonsburg center’s staff served a hot lunch that featured a breaded pork patty smothered in gravy with a side of vegetables.
“They’re happy to be here,” said Mary Lynn Spilak, director of Aging Services of Washington County that runs the senior centers. “This pandemic has been hard on all of us, but particularly seniors, especially people with no family. Senior centers are a sense of community.”
Over the next few weeks, the county’s senior centers will begin adding more activities such as trivia, bingo and Bible study. Brenda Wacker, the coordinator for the Canonsburg Senior Center, said it was exciting to see people return for lunch Monday, and she’s looking forward to crowning a Valentine’s Day king and queen during a special event Friday.
“It’s very encouraging just to see them come out because you know with the pandemic there is a lot of fear with people staying huddled in their homes,” Wacker said. “It’s a very important value for our community and country to honor our senior citizens.”
Sharon Powers is also looking forward to a time when she can play poker with friends again on a Friday night, while Pat said he enjoys coming for the meals.
“We come for the meals all the time,” Pat said. “They’re great.”
Spilak said they were offering up to 100 “grab and go” meals a day at some senior centers during the shutdown, and are continuing to offer that option for people who do not feel comfortable eating in a public setting.
However, the meals have come under scrutiny recently by Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman, who posted a Facebook video last week showing one of the “grab and go” meals that he thought was inadequate. Sherman said the food served at the Washington County jail – where the commissioners eat lunch during their quarterly prison board meeting at the facility – is more nutritious and tastes better than what’s served at the senior centers.
Sherman reiterated that message Monday and said the food is one of many areas that the commissioners are looking to improve at the county’s senior centers now that they’ve reopened.
“I’ve always found that the meals need improved. This is the overall approach to improving the senior centers,” Sherman said. “From top to bottom, how can we better serve these senior centers?”
The cooks at the senior centers were notified late last year that they would no longer be employed as of June 30, as the SWPA Area Agency on Aging Inc. will take over the “senior nutrition services” on July 1. Sherman said no decisions have been made on who will be contracted to provide the food for the senior centers.
Spilak declined to comment specifically on Sherman’s concerns, and said it would be up to SWPA Area Agency on Aging to make a decision on the food service.
Leslie Grenfell, executive director of Area Agency on Aging, said they will be putting out a “request for proposals” soon looking to hire a food management vendor company that will offer more fresh fruit and food options. It was not known if the cooks would be retained when the food vendor is changed.
“We’re in the process of exploring different senior nutrition options for part of the county,” Grenfell said. “The whole idea of the program is to promote healthy lifestyles options and provide nutritious food to seniors.”
Meanwhile, Sherman praised the volunteers and workers who assist people who visit these senior centers, and he hopes to provide them with more resources to continue that mission.
In addition to offering more nutritious meals, Sherman said they want to provide new educational programs and interactive services.
“There are so many people out there helping these seniors. The volunteers here are absolutely remarkable. What they do to help these seniors is a feel-good story,” Sherman said. “We have to make sure they have the best resources possible (so) these seniors have a great place and a great experience.”