Meals on Wheels Saves the Day

Thanks to the quick thinking of Madeleine Costigan, Volunteer West Island’s Meals on Wheels Coordinator, and the Dorval North MOW Team, a possible tragedy was averted.

On Tuesday, May 2nd, two Meals on Wheels volunteers went to the home of a lady, Mme Helene, residing in an apartment in Dorval and a meal recipient on their twice weekly delivery route. There was no answer when they rang the bell and they noticed two newspapers on the mat outside her door. They immediately called the Coordinator for Dorval North Meals on Wheels Group #17 who the informed Madeleine at Volunteer West Island. There was no answer when she called the apartment. She then called several hospitals and the CLSC with no success in finding Mme Helene. Madeleine took the initiative and contacted the family of another MOW recipient living in the building and inquired whether there was a janitor on the premises. She was told there was none. Upon further inquiry, she was able to obtain the number for the apartment office and the police were notified.

Upon their arrival, the police found Mme Helene in the apartment, conscious, but unable to get up from the floor where she had fallen two and a half days before. She had recently returned home from hospital after a back operation and had suffered a fall, remaining on the floor until Tuesday when the unsuccessful Meals on Wheels delivery caused Madeleine to alert the authorities who took Mme Helene to the hospital where she is undergoing tests. “I thank you so much, all of you at Meals on Wheels”, she told Madeleine who visited her in the hospital. Smiling, she added, “By the way, your meals are very, very good!”

Meals on Wheels is a volunteer-driven program operating from 13 Meals on Wheels kitchens throughout the West Island and coordinated by Madeleine at Volunteer West Island headquarters in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. This service provides hot nutritious meals to homebound or isolated seniors and to those with reduced autonomy. Often the Meals on Wheels volunteers are the only people an isolated senior may see for weeks.

The demand for services and volunteers is rising as our population ages. Results from a study by L'Institut de la statistque du Québec and presented to la Table de concertation des ainès de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile indicate that the proportion of people 65 and over will be more important for the West Island than for Montreal by 2012. The reason for this is that the population of the West Island is, in fact, aging more rapidly than that of Montreal.

In this case, Meals on Wheels was there when needed and, thanks to her resourcefulness and perseverance, Madeleine Costigan was able to take action that made a difference. Madeleine states that “This successful outcome is a result of people acting as links in a chain, caring for our seniors”.