Meals on Wheels Changes

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Conference
2005 Retired Members' Conference
Date
20 June 2005
Decision
Carried

Conference notes with regret that some councils/social services are to stop daily deliveries of meals on wheels to senior citizens and vulnerable members of our communities.

The service is to be replaced by a weekly delivery of frozen food packs. It is also proposed that anyone who does not have a microwave oven or freezer will be given one.

This is said to be an improved service. There are many concerns mainly:

1)to some people it will be the only face that they see that day, if only briefly;

2)many will not know about defrosting thoroughly;

3)by putting metal or gold rimmed plates and so on into a microwave could cause a fire;

4)the need for thorough cooking of meals.

This new service is meant to be an improvement to the daily hot meals delivered at present and at a lower cost. How many of these residents will come down with food poisoning because meals have not been thoroughly cooked? How many will still need help to cook these meals?