Staff and volunteers at the Sterling Senior Center have worked tirelessly to provide fun and outreach to seniors during COVID-19.
CREDIT: Danielle Ray
By Chris Kyne
The Sterling Senior Center found new and creative ways to remain true to their mission of maintaining the health, well-being, and independence of its patrons throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 16, 2020, the Sterling Senior Center suspended all recreation and social programming, and shifted focus to providing essential services to those most in need. These services included Meals on Wheels, home-delivered and grab-and-go meals, grocery shopping, pharmacy pickups, toilet paper deliveries, check-in calls, transportation services, and outreach services. The Senior Center was also continuously staffed and a live person was always at the ready to answer the phone.
The main concern for seniors during this time was the disruption of outreach services, including both home and office visits. COVID-19 greatly exacerbated the needs and vulnerability of those with dementia and their caregivers, and those facing isolation.
Volunteers at the Sterling Senior Center met these challenges head on, placing phone calls to all seniors aged 70 and over, as well as younger seniors who potentially needed assistance. By the end of the year, the Senior Center provided 1,170 seniors with outreach services, updated to reflect the needs of the time. This included well checks, telephone assurance, application assistance, case management, home care referrals, health benefit counseling, medical equipment loans, assistance with food pantries, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, fuel assistance and more.
To the extent possible, the Senior Center sought to recreate traditional events with COVID restrictions. Muffin Mondays at the Center became an outreach program to bring needed socialization and fun to seniors at their doorsteps, according to the director of the center, Veronica Buckley
“We took our traditional Muffin Mondays and said, ‘we’re not doing that here,’ so we made Muffin Mondays an outreach event, where you can nominate people to be “muffined,” Buckley said. “Somebody you know is lonely and needs a pick-me-up or somebody that has done something special in the community, just tell us and we will deliver a couple muffins to their door.”
As the weather warmed with the summer months of 2020, the Senior Center began outside exercise programs at Peg’s Pond and social and recreational programming on the covered patio. By limiting the number of participants and strict adherence to mask wearing, social distancing, COVID screening of participants, and good hand hygiene, these activities continued safely through the end of October. As COVID numbers increased throughout the fall, all exercise, recreational and social programming continued on remote platforms or was suspended for the winter.
Adjusting to a new normal in 2020 meant embracing more technology. Zoom, online grocery orders, pharmaceuticals by mail order were new and necessary options for many. Family, community, and Senior Center support provided the tools to help interested seniors navigate these platforms. The Center recognized the segment that did not embrace this technology, and utilized phone contact and print media through their newsletter to provide vital information. In total, 935 seniors participated in Senior Center programming in 2020.
The Sterling Senior Center opened in 2015, and Buckley took over her position in the fall of 2016. Buckley said the growth of the Senior Center during her tenure has been tremendous.
“The people got a different idea of what a Senior Center was, and what it could be,” Buckley said. “The educational opportunities, and the volunteer opportunities, and the fun opportunities. We weren’t afraid to try things that were different. Yes, bingo was still important and so was cards, but all of things were social and fun and there was a real good spirit and good feeling of being here at the Senior Center.
Buckley said she is proud of what the Senior Center has been able to do for the residents of Sterling, thanks in large part to the help of volunteers.
“It’s more of a community, volunteer feeling here and that’s what has made it what it is.”