Family of some residents in a veterans’ home on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside say they’re worried about how they’ll get their meals, after a key facility serving the building has moved.
“They’re struggling. They feel disrespected. And their anxiety is through the roof,” Amber Hofmann, whose 84-year-old father lives in the Veterans Manor at 133 Alexander St. told Global News.
The 133 veterans and seniors, some at risk of homelessness, living in the home used to get low-cost meals from a cafeteria at the Evelyn Saller Centre, which was in the same building.
About two dozen of those residents are unable to leave their units for mobility or other reasons, but because the cafeteria was in the same building, their home care workers were able to collect and bring the food to them.
That changed last month when the cafeteria closed as the Evelyn Saller Centre moves to a new location about a half a block away.
Veterans Manor was able to secure funding to allow non-profit support group Whole Way House to arrange temporary food delivery for the seniors.
With some residents unable to travel the block to the new facility and that funding expiring at the end of September, Hofmann said she’s worried.
“I’m concerned for them and their well-being. They are elderly, 70 years and older, they have mental health issues, they have physical and mobility issues, and they need help,” she said.
“They cannot go down for meals on their own.”
Jenny Konkin, president and co-founder of the Whole Way House Society and a vice-president with the Veterans Manor, said the current food delivery model is only intended as a stop-gap measure while officials work out a solution with the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Coastal Health.
She said there are a number of reasons home care workers can’t travel to the off-site cafeteria, ranging from the amount of time they have to work with each client, to food safety, to WorkSafeBC regulations.
But she said all three organizations are alive to just how important food is for the residents and won’t let anyone go hungry.
“Twenty-five residents who live in this building can’t leave their room to get food — that is the difference between life and death for them, which is why we wanted this plan in place,” she said.
“We have funding confirmed right now until the end of September, but we would never end food security. We would figure something out.”
If funding to deliver food somehow ran out before a new solution was in place, Whole Way House would turn to donations if necessary, she added.
But she said officials were meeting regularly and she was confident that wouldn’t be necessary.
“I had a meeting with Vancouver Coastal Health last week and the local clinics and they were really concerned and wanted to get that long-term solution in place,” she said.
“Anytime you work with multiple groups, things take a little bit longer.”
-With files from Christa Dao
Comments