Meals On Wheels functions on many different levels, including with other organizations to provide ongoing care services to senior citizens. Learn more about the issue in this video with HealthMaker Ellie Hollander.
Well, a couple of things one is that for example people that are discharged from hospitals. It's interesting when we've talked to discharge planners for example. Nutrition isn't really always part of that plan and so there isn't a care given plan if you will, or a transition plan for people coming out of hospitals.
In fact nutrition contributes considerably to people being able to not be re-admitted or to heal or to recover much more quickly, so part of it is, it's just not I think on the radar of a lot of hospital discharge plans. The other thing is that with regard to other care-giving opportunities, there aren't really infrastructures necessarily in place that make it easy for our seniors to know what kind of services are available to them.
So we try to partner within communities with other service providers to make sure that community based organisations are aware of people in need and that we work as an infrastructure and network to make that happen.
Ellie Hollander is president and CEO of the Meals On Wheels Association of America. She has decades of experience working with aging populations, membership organizations, for-profits and non-profits.
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