North Inverness CHB’s Community Meals on Wheels Wins Making Waves Award

North Inverness CHB’s Community Meals on Wheels program was the chosen recipient of Nova Scotia Health’s Making Waves Outstanding Community Contribution Award due to their work with Community Meals on Wheels. Making Waves and outstanding Community Contribution Award recognizes an outstanding contribution or project achievement by a Community Health Board (CHB) that has shown exceptional commitment, values-based leadership, and dedication toimproving the health and wellness of their community by collaborating and partnering with internal and external community partners.     

When the COVID-19 restrictions were announced, a board member of the Community Cares/Allons-y Ensemble committee contacted the Municipal CAO and requested that he invite a representative from each of the Cheticamp/St Joseph du Moine service organizations; non-profits, emergency responders; healthcare providers and community service staff; and others to participate in a virtual meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to begin a discussion of the impacts of the restrictions on residents and how their needs might be addressed. During this initial meeting with all community partners, once the immediate challenges facing the community were identified, a committee was formed to address the most pressing need. This was food security for our most vulnerable residents.

Although the committee is named Community Meals on Wheels, it also addresses other aspects of food insecurity in the community.  When the COVID-19 crisis first disrupted life in this Acadian region, the Cheticamp Community Response Team Network (CCRTN) was formed to respond to the immediate and ongoing needs of its most vulnerable residents. The response team includes local community groups, non-profits and service organizations, NICHB members, Municipal staff, Municipal Councilor, the RCMP Detachment Commander, NS Department of Community Services staff, and the Community Links Coordinator for the region The Community Meals on Wheels food program helps maintain the health and wellbeing of this Acadian region’s most vulnerable residents. Without this program some of these residents would be at risk of suffering from malnutrition and the concomitant health issues that can accompany this over the long term.

People who have support in their communities have been shown to feel more connected to others and generally enjoy better mental and physical health. There are times when the only personal contact that some of the program recipients experience are the volunteers who deliver their food. The drivers have noted that this brief contact seems to give the recipients a little boost and provides them a lifeline. For example, if a driver notices that a recipient seems disoriented or ill or if they have failed to respond to their knock, they report this to the appropriate healthcare providers. One of the innovative approaches that the committee has had to apply is the use of the local transit service to deliver some of the meals. Since the population of this region is one of the oldest in NS, many of the volunteers who had previously delivered Meals on Wheels belong to one of the groups most vulnerable to the effects of the COVID virus. 

Vulnerable people are receiving healthy midday meals to 45 clients  3 times per week and their wellbeing is monitored by the drivers who deliver these meals. With the availability of healthy, regular meals implicated in the overall health outcomes of populations a demonstrated record of success may be noted by healthcare providers over time. In working with healthcare and school partners, the committee discovered that an even greater need than this exists in region than had previously been known. The committee is aware that these are nothing more than Bandaid solutions which require a longer term solution. With this in mind, the group is now working with FeedNS and hope to establish a more permanent solution, such as a Food Bank, in this region.