COUNTY LONGFORD SOCIAL SERVICE COUNCIL

St Joseph’s Care Centre,
Dublin Road,
Longford.

Tel: 043 3350114/043 3350138
Fax: 043 3332110
Email: longsocserv1@eircom.net

Longford Social Service facilitates Meals on Wheels (over 65), chiropody (over 65), transport and visitation.

Meals on Wheels is often the first service that is offered to older people as they become more dependent, but are still capable of continuing to live in their own homes. The benefits of the service are many. Meals on Wheels play an important role in providing respite for carers enabling home helps to undertake other tasks.

Meals on Wheels service is provided in the town and county of Longford on a seven day per week basis including Christmas day and other public holidays. At the moment over 220 meals are delivered daily. The meal consists of hot soup, a main meal and dessert and the total dinners delivered for 2008 was 59,289, an increase of 32% since 2007. The meals are delivered to the individual’s home by volunteer drivers, helpers and staff.

While the service is not in a position to provide individuals with a choice of meals each day for financial reasons, the menu is regularly rotated to ensure a good variety of meals. Every effort is made to make the meals reasonable and affordable. Meals on Wheels relies on subsidy by the HSE, direct payments from clients, fundraising, donations, flag days and church-gate collections.

It can improve the nutritional status of clients, it provides clients with a measure of social contact, particularly important for those who are socially isolated or living in remote areas, and it can enable the early detection of problems that require further interventions. In addition the Meals on Wheels service is a local response to local needs.

Longford Social Services Voluntary Committee: Padraic Gearty, Chairperson; Phyllis Branigan, Secretary; Annette McDonald, Treasurer.