Meals on Wheels in the 21st Century

IN OUR COMMUNITY

Meals on Wheels in the 21st Century

Imagine the logistics of preparing and delivering over 1,000 meals a day throughout Delaware County. SourcePoint’s nutrition program does just that!

There is a great deal of planning and documentation that goes on behind the scenes of Meals on Wheels. It used to be incredibly labor intensive, requiring hours of staff time, manual data entry, and reams of paper to accomplish. While it’s still a lot of hard work and attention to detail, our staff is fortunate to have a database to assist, helping us track our meal clients with their addresses and meal plans.

Our software helps staff create routes and the sequence the deliveries for drivers. Though it’s not as simple as it sounds—each day, the route may change because of cancellations, new clients, and clients leaving the program. So, each day, paper route sheets are printed, requiring hundreds of sheets of paper.

When a meal client isn’t home, the driver calls the office to alert staff. If a driver has a concern about a client, they call into the office or document the concern on their delivery notes. Nutrition staff then communicate with the client’s care consultant to share the concern. All this takes time and there is no way to track the impact of these concerns in our software.

Over the past two years, nutrition staff investigated and tested new technology that would streamline many of these processes. The tests were successful, and a program selected. Late last year, the first tablets for the Mobile Meals App (MMA) arrived. MMA integrates with the software we already use and replaces the paper route sheets.

There are many benefits to eliminating this lengthy paper trail, including printing and paper cost savings, no more rain soaked, lost, or stained sheets, work is automatically saved, and staff time is reduced, allowing them to focus on other important tasks.

However, the benefits don’t stop there. The MMA tablets offer GPS, so drivers can map from house to house each day based on the scheduled deliveries. Staff can monitor, via a dashboard, each driver’s status while on the route. Staff can see “no-shows” without the driver calling and can immediately begin follow-up calls to ensure the client’s safety. In addition, when clients call questioning if they are getting a delivery that day if a driver is late, staff can determine the driver’s exact location on the route and update the client. Text messages may be sent to the driver concerning changes in their route.

The MMA also allows drivers to note any changes of condition for a client in real time. Previously, drivers would note concerns on a sheet and staff would receive these upon the drivers’ return. Staff would then notify a client’s care consultant of the concerns. Concerns range from physical or mental health, personal safety, mobility issues, nutrition concerns, social isolation, an emergency, or even a concern about a pet’s welfare.

By using tablets, the concern is received by staff while the driver is still on the route. The information flows through the software and follow-up can begin immediately to ensure client safety. With the information contained in the database, it is possible to track client trends and extract data to show the impact of the “more than just a meal” model.

Rollout of the app began slowly last year. Staffing changes challenged our ability to get all our volunteer drivers trained as quickly as we would have liked. Since Jules Blackstone became nutrition program supervisor, she has ramped up training and has almost 45% of routes each week on the tablets. Our hope is to finish the rollout by the end of June. Drivers have handled the transition smoothly and the feedback has been positive. As with any change, there have been some small bumps, but they are well worth the outcome. This new technology will allow SourcePoint to manage expected growth, improve quality of data collection,and increase staff and volunteer efficiency—a trifecta of success!

Karen Pillion is the nutrition program administrator at SourcePoint.

Meals on Wheels Sponsorship Opportunities

Did you know SourcePoint’s dedicated nutrition team produces over 1,000 meals a day for local older adults?

These meals not only provide vital nutrition to homebound seniors, but also afford a daily visit from a friendly volunteer and a safety check.

Thanks to the generosity of local businesses, our Meals on Wheels recipients benefit from more than just a meal! We provide our home-delivered meal recipients with quarterly treats to show our care and appreciation, and host themed activities in community cafes for our diners to enjoy.

If your organization would like to show its support for SourcePoint’s Meals on Wheels program, we have several opportunities. Your sponsorship dollars provide nutrition and social engagement for local older adults, and you will receive recognition as a thank-you!

$3,000 Monthly Meal Sponsor

▶ Opportunity to include a sticker with logo on every meal produced the first full week of the month, 5,000+ meals

▶ Social media coverage, reaching 5,000+ followers across platforms

▶ Recognition in My Communicator, circulation of 35,000+ issues

▶ Logo with link on Meals on Wheels web page

▶ Recognition in press release

▶ Opportunity to publish educational blog article on SourcePoint website, average of 4,000+ unique users/ month

▶ Acknowledgement in 2022 annual report

$1,000 Quarterly Treat Sponsor

▶ Opportunity to include sticker with logo on each treat to about 550 meal recipients

▶ Social media coverage, reaching 5,000+ followers across platforms

▶ Recognition in My Communicator, circulation of 35,000+ issues

$500 Monthly Cafe Sponsor

▶ Engagement opportunity for display table once a month, reaching 100+ diners

▶ Social media coverage, reaching 5,000+ followers across platforms

▶ Recognition on signage at SourcePoint, electronic or banner

To learn more about these or other opportunities, contact SourcePoint’s development office at 740-363-6677 or give@MySourcePoint.org.