Fort Bend Senior Citizens Meals On Wheels & Much Much More Inc

Results: We have served over 7 million meals to seniors in need over our 50 years of service

Target demographics: senior citizens remain in their own homes as long as possible

Direct beneficiaries per year: 2330 senior citizens

Geographic areas served: Fort Bend and Waller Counties, Texas

Programs: Home delivered meals - fort bend and waller county: the goal is to promote better health for homebound older persons who are eligible for nutritious home-delivered meals. Consumers must be 60 years of age or older and score a minimum of 20 on the department of aging and disabilities assessment. Eligibility is based on an assessment of: impairment in the ability to perform activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living; frequency of a person leaving his or her home or need assistance to do so; ability to prepare nutritious meals and shop for food, their nutritional risk, and financial resources available to the senior. Case management - fbs provides individual assessments by a trained and degreed case manager to determine seniors needs in the areas of social services, nutrition and health care. Once an assessment is completed, fbs staff arrange for the appropriate services to be delivered and provide follow-up reviews to ensure all needs are being met. Through case management a participant is assessed for the following services: home delivered meals, nutrition education in the home, assessment of needs, and appropriate referral to other services. Home delivered meals - the meals meet at least 1/3 of the recommended daily allowance of all nutrients required by adults at least five days per week. Fbs is now providing meals seven days per week; including five hot nutritious meals and on friday two frozen meals are provided with the hot meal for the saturday and sunday meals. Fbs also provides the homebound client a frozen holiday meal on or before the actual day of the holiday. In addition, through a waiver approved by the department of aging and disability, some of our clients living in the rural communities receive one hot and six frozen meals to consume throughout the week. These clients must be screened to ensure they are able to warm the meal and also receive telephone reassurance calls two times per week to ensure they are consuming the meals. Emergency shelf stable meals - additionally, fbs provided 10 emergency shelf meals, water, and hurricane supplies to each client to use during inclement weather when the agency is not able to make a delivery to clients. Volunteers - volunteers and part time drivers, site managers, and servers are responsible for daily delivery of the meals. When volunteers deliver the meals, it reduces the operation cost for meal delivery which enables us to purchase more meals to serve seniors on the wait list. Meals are delivered directly to the participants or an authorized caregiver. The clients must give the delivery person permission to enter their home. The meals on wheels program is more than just a meal delivery. Through our trained staff and volunteers, a homebound senior receives a warm smile, safety check to help ensure he or she is well and any other needs that are identified such as nutrition education. Outcome: in 2017, fbs delivered 248,800 meals to about 1,151 homebound eligible senior citizens in fort bend and waller county. Through our annual satisfaction survey of the home delivered meal clients we have confirmed that the meals on wheels program 1) promotes better health for homebound elderly through improved nutrition and 2) alleviates the isolation of the homebound elderly by the daily visits during meal delivery.

congregate meal/senior center: promotes better mental and physical health for older people through both nutritious meals and socialization. The congregate nutrition service functions as part of a system of services to promote independent living for the elderly by serving as focal point for services. Client participants must be 60 years of age or older. When a client enters the program, an intake and nutritional risk screening is completed to determine the nutritional risk and needs for the participant which enables the staff to assist with improving the participant's health. The participant is eligible to choose to participate in all the following services:congregate meals - congregate meals include one hot meal daily that meets at least 1/3 of the recommended daily allowance of all nutrients required by adults provided in a group setting. An integral part of the meals on wheels program, fort bend seniors provides congregate meals five days per week at seven locations in fort bend and waller counties. Additionally, those clients that are identified with a high nutritional risk score are eligible for weekend groceries. Emergency shelf stable meals - emergency shelf stable meals are meals with a shelf life of one year that are delivered to seniors for use when home delivery is unavailable due to emergency weather conditions. Fbs provides at least two sets of 5 meals each annually to homebound and congregate meals on wheels participants. Emergency shelf stable meals are also provided to seniors who find themselves in temporary emergency situations such as a recent discharge from the hospital or an unexpected change in a senior's finances. Recreation - fbs provides daily recreational opportunities for seniors who attend the congregate meal program. A monthly calendar of events is provided to seniors outlining upcoming recreational and social programs. Activities include field trips, arts and crafts, bingo, exercise, dancing and holiday events giving seniors an opportunity to socialize with their peers on a regular basis. Respite care program - half-day program for clients with the beginning stages of alzheimer's disease or dementia to allow family members to have respite. This program is currently held 2 days per week. In 2017, a computer lab also opened to provide educational computer classes for clients, and a fitness center was opened to allow clients to participate in daily fitness using specially-designed fitness equipment. Health screenings/nutrition education - fbs provides vital health screenings for seniors at their congregate sites. The program includes screenings for hearing, vision, depression and other senior related health screenings on an annual basis. Nutrition education programs are also provided through this program. These services are provided by volunteers that are professionals in these areas and choose to provide an in-kind service. Information and referral - fbs maintains a database of important information relating to seniors and their needs. Vital information is provided to seniors in need of services and opportunities and referrals are coordinated by fbs staff. Community access - fbs serves seniors age 60 and over residing in fort bend and waller counties. Seven site locations provide agency services monday through friday from 9 am to 1:30 pm. Seniors interested in receiving services can contact the fort bend seniors site nearest them or fort bend seniors headquarters toll free at 1-800-643-9654. Outcome: through our annual satisfaction survey of the congregate clients we have confirmed that the congregate meal program 1) sustains and improves the participants health and 2) reduces isolation by promoting socialization. In 2017, fort bend seniors provided 62,103 meals to 617 congregate clients in fort bend and waller county.

transportation: fbs contracts with fort bend county public transportation to provide transportation for our participants in the congregate meal program. The vehicles are air conditioned, handicapped accessible vans. The service is door-to-door, transporting the client from their home to the nearest senior center, and then returns the client home following program activities. Clients: includes senior citizens 60 years of age and participating in one of the congregate senior center meals programs in fort bend county. Fbs maintains files containing information that identifies regular participants, documents eligibility and information on emergency contacts. Unit of service: a unit of service is a one-way trip provided to an eligible person from one location to another. Each client is eligible for two units of service per day. The service is provided five days per week (monday-friday). Outcomes: in 2017, fbs provided 25,598 rides to senior participants to and from congregate senior centers under the contract with fort bend county. This service is only available in fort bend county. Waller county service is provided through valley connect services at no cost to the client or to fbs. Through our annual satisfaction survey we confirmed that the transportation service enables seniors to maintain their independence.