N.S. woman raises concern over 2-month delay accessing Meals on Wheels

A Nova Scotia woman is breathing a sigh of relief her elderly parents can now get healthy meals at home, but says it should not have taken weeks to accomplish.

Brenda Thompson of Perotte, near Annapolis Royal, first tried booking VON's Meals on Wheels program for her parents in early October. She finally connected with a VON employee last week to arrange weekly deliveries of frozen meals, two months after she began.

As the number of people relying on VON programs for meals or transportation has spiked in Nova Scotia since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Thompson is worried the non-profit organization is struggling to keep up with demand.

"This has been quite an adventure tracking this down," Thompson said. "I feel like I've been hunting."

Thompson's parents moved into an independent living facility in Bridgetown this fall.

She said it was no longer feasible for her to drive a half-hour every day with dinner. Their new home is set up like an apartment, so they prepare their own meals.

She first left a voicemail with the Annapolis Valley VON site near Kentville and never heard back, Thompson said.

She then emailed the Meals on Wheels program directly, with no response. She then called other VON sites including Halifax, who all passed her on to someone else.

While waiting, Thompson said her parents ate "far too much salt" over the past two months from TV dinners or takeout.

Their cooking capabilities are very limited, Thompson said. Her father, Richard, needs a wheelchair and is terminally ill, so her mother, Juanita, is the primary caretaker and doesn't like to leave him alone to get groceries.

Finally, on Nov. 30, Thompson connected with a co-ordinator in Kentville, who helped her set up frozen meal deliveries for her parents starting this week. They live too far outside the zone for hot meal delivery.

Thompson called it a "huge relief."

"I just feel like Christmas came early," she said.

The Kentville staff member told Thompson the meal program had 30 clients before COVID-19, and now has over 400. Such a spike matches what the Lunenburg County VON site has been seeing, and sites across the province, according to VON.

Across the province, VON said it delivers about 10,600 meals monthly. It was 2,000 per month in 2019.

Due to the pandemic, friends and family couldn't drop in to help cook meals or offer support, often for months at a time.

To ensure this doesn't happen to other families, Thompson would like to see the provincial government better support VON and help them hire more staff or support if needed.

In an email, VON spokesperson Emily Mallard said VON Annapolis Valley delivered approximately 860 meals per month in 2019-20, compared to 3,455 meals per month in 2021. 

However, despite the jump, Mallard said VON has been able to increase its capacity to serve more clients through the pandemic thanks to their dedicated staff and volunteers.

She also said VON was "surprised" to hear that Thompson had a difficult time reaching anyone. 

"When we receive a request for community support services, our staff return calls within the hour, or at the very latest, within the same day," Mallard said.

"This particular instance would certainly be an anomaly."

Mallard said there are no wait-lists for frozen meals, since they are available immediately. There can be a small wait-list in some areas for hot meals.

Anyone looking to join the program in the Annapolis Valley should call 902-678-3415 ext. 2103, she said.

Mallard did not directly respond to CBC's question about whether more staff or funds are needed, but said VON relies "heavily" on volunteers and donor dollars to support programs like Meals on Wheels.