Our luncheon club is aimed mainly at our older centre members. Through our club, we ensure that they have a nutritious hot cooked meal, and can socialise with their friends. Unfortunately, of course, during lock down, this club was closed from 17 March. We have finally reopened over three months later on 6 July.
During this time, our office remained as open as usual during the lock down, and as the Luncheon club coordinator, I contacted our members every week to check on their well being. We ensured that they had food, were able to cook or eat on their own, and they had the help they needed from family and friends. We also checked their mental and physical health. We asked them regularly about their mental health, and if they had anxiety or depression, their health and routine medications, and ensured they did gentle daily exercise either indoor/outdoors if they were able.
Fortunately, our members have remained healthy and safe during the lock down. One of them, a 93 year-old member, lives alone, cooks and eats by herself. Her daughter buys her food every week, and I call her weekly to make sure she is healthy and ask if she needs help. Once she was unwell and needed regular medicine, and I helped her order a
prescription, arranged a delivery to her home, and called her GP to ask about her
situation, which was not too serious.
One of the members, who is 83, lives with his wife. Every time I call them, they are happy to chat with me, and they told me that they have learned to use the internet, watch movies and participated in dance lessons online. Another member, exercises daily in her garden during the lock-up.
One member grows plenty of vegetables in her garden, and every time I talk to her, she always mentions easing of lock down, as she takes her vegetables to share with members of the lunch club. One member always chatted for a long time as she felt bored at home. One member has been suggesting the planning of different activities and ideas to us after the easing of lock down.
During the lock down period, our members were very cute and funny, and
they really appreciated our regular calls to them. They are now returning to the centre, and we have enforced stringent safety measures to ensure their continued well being. We look forward to planning more activities and events at our centre, so that they can meet more friends and enjoy life.
Yan Ma