Older man went without a dinner for over a week

A service to check in on vulnerable older people with a morning phonecall has been extended to provide free meals as it emerged that some people were going without cooked meals.
Volunteers from the Postive Age group have run the Good Morning Cavan service across the county for the last 12 years, making a telephone call three times a week to ensure older people are okay and are reminded of any appointments or medicine they need to take. If the person is unwell, the volunteer will alert the relevant services. In response to unprecedented demand caused by the Coronavirus emergency, the Good Morning service has been extended to seven days a week, and they have also started providing cooked meals. 
Frances O’Callaghan, a director with Positive Age, told The Anglo-Celt that much of the support vulnerable people receive is undocumented, so if that support suddenly ceases, the shortfall can go undetected. She gave the example of one man living in a complex for older people who had been receiving regular cooked dinners from his neighbours. When the neighbours obeyed the government’s restrictions and cocooned, Positive Age was unaware that the gentleman would go without a meal for days on end. 
“The sad thing was that he didn’t tell us that he didn’t get a dinner. And he didn’t get a dinner on Easter Sunday, and I discovered that on the Tuesday afterwards. I thought it was very sad,” said Frances, explaining that the problem was revealed by a neighbour, asked by the service to check in on him when he wasn’t answering their Good Morning call.
“The neighbour told me that he wasn’t getting any meals because all these people were doing what they were told to do and staying in their own house and they weren’t going out - so he fell between two stools.”
“He was surviving on bread”, explained Frances, saying this situation would have lasted “well over a week”. Happily the gentleman is now receiving regular meals from Positive Age.
“People are very proud as well. That’s the other part of that. They don’t tell you initially - you really have to build up relationships with them before they’re going to tell you something like that.”
Positive Age volunteers are now currently providing free meals to their service users. Ultimately they hope to link into a new county wide Meals on Wheels service that the HSE are trying to establish to respond to this need
“People are very good,” Frances happily reports. “Surprisingly people who are not directly involved wih Positive Age at all have come forward and said ‘Look it, I’m quite happy to cook an extra couple of dinners every day - I’m quite happy to deliver a dinner within a mile or two from my own home. There is a lot of good will out there.”
Positive Age had been running the crucial Good Morning Cavan from their premises in Castlemanor but the public health restrictions saw it temporarily close.
“Our excellent volunteers are continuing to run the service from their own homes throughout the COVID-19,” explained Frances. “We normally run the service three times a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays - but we have extended the service now to seven days a week.”
They have 30 volunteers operating currently, and “standby volunteers who have offered their services in this extreme situation” should any of the team fall ill.
“We have enough offers at the moment to meet demand,” says Frances. “That’s not to say that that wouldn’t change if this were to go on for a prolonged period of time.”
They are making the service available to any older person, and referrals can be made over the phone during this unusual period of crisis. “They can be self referred, they can be referred by families, they can be referred by public health nurses, GPs - we will take referrals from anyone.”
 

Lonely and isolated
“We are finding that people are very lonely and isolated,” says Frances O’Callaghan. “People will say to us now, ‘It’s so great to get the call. It’s so great to hear from somebody.’ And that goes to show the extent of loneliness. There’s people out there who have nobody to speak to all day.
“It’s a very difficult time for older people and we are finding that because their families are not visiting - the ones who have families - they are very isolated.”
This isolation has had an impact on the duration of their Good Morning calls.

“Fifteen minutes is the maximum that we expect to be on a call, but that has gone out the window at the minute. We find that we are on calls an awful lot longer and we are on calls all day - it’s no longer a Good Morning call service.

"And if people want an evening call or a night call we’re willing to make those calls as well - there’s isolation and loneliness and a lot of fear out there.”

Contact us
Any person who wants to join the service, or those who wish to refer an older person, can contact Frances O’Callaghan on 087 7759 584 or Brian Daly: 087 2384 114.