COVID-19’s Impact on Brampton Meals on Wheels

02 Jun COVID-19’s Impact on Brampton Meals on Wheels

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brampton Meals on Wheels has felt the difference in our day to day operations. Regardless of the changes that we have had to make our volunteers have been exceptional during this time. We have seen changes in many different ways. We have changed our daily procedures and we have seen a big change in our numbers. We have increased the number of meals and clients we are serving.

One of the first changes that Meals on Wheels made was changing protocols for our volunteers. Due to our office being located in Peel Manor, a Long-Term Care Home, we were no longer able to allow anyone other than our employees into the building. When Peel Manor closed the doors for safety precautions we had to adapt the way we did things. Our volunteers typically come and meet in our office, have a coffee, and catch up with each other every day before we send our meals out. This practice was the first to change as we had to start implementing social distancing. We began handing off our meals outside and having spread-out pickup times for our drivers so we could ensure, there were no gatherings larger than 5 people and that we were maintaining a safe social distance. On a weekly basis, we have anywhere from 3-5 volunteer assistants that come into the office and help us prepare our meals for the day, but that was no longer possible. At the same time that we were losing our extra helping hands, we were gaining and growing in clients and the number of meals we were serving to our clients.

Other changes we have had to make have been within our staffing structure. We had to have one of our team members leave the office and begin working from home. Although we miss seeing our team member’s face in the office, it was the safest option for them due to us being located in a LTC home. As a team, we worked very hard to keep running Meals on Wheels smoothly through these changes. At the end of April, we were fortunate to be able to hire and bring on a COVID Relief employee. With this much-needed addition to the team, we were able to have our operations go back to “normal” (the new normal). With our relief staff filling in the role, that our volunteer assistants used to fulfill.

We have also seen steady growth in our numbers during this time. In the chart below, we have provided the number of clients we serve per month for the months of January-May in 2019 and 2020 for comparison. As you can in the graph below, in 2019 during January-May there was very little fluctuation or growth in the number of clients, month-to-month. In fact, the number of clients remained in 5 person range for the 5-month period. In 2020, a similar pattern presents itself in January and February, again we see very little fluctuation or growth. In March, when the Pandemic was declared we began to see a significant increase in the number of clients. We have seen a 32% increase in clients from March to May. This trend is clearly displayed in the graph below.

Another area where we have seen consistent growth in our numbers has been in the number of meals we are serving daily. In the chart below we have also provided the number of meals we have served per month for the months of January-May in 2019 and 2020 for comparison. During this Pandemic, we have served 1593 more meals to our clients then we did this time last year. Although our numbers for meals served have been consistently higher in 2020 than in 2019, there has been a change that correlates to COVID. The graph below displays the trends that occurred each year. In 2019, March-May was a decrease in meals served in the month of April, but in 2020 trend did not repeat and we saw continuous growth during April and continuing to grow even more in May. In 2020 from March-May we saw a 12% increase in comparison to March-May in 2019 increase of only 2%.

We conclude that the growth in the number of clients and meals served has increased substantially thanks to community awareness and outreach. The seniors in our community are the most vulnerable at this time. When the state of emergency was declared in Ontario on March 19^th, government recommendations for seniors included a stay at home order and to not visit grocery stores, due to this more seniors began to rely on our services. Brampton Meals on Wheels would like to say thank-you to our hard-working volunteers, dedicated staff, community partners, and our wonderful clients for coming together during these trying times to support each other and support our community.