July 3, 2002
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
News
Giving Service: Andy Miller, right, and his daughter, Alexa, deliver a meal to Willow Glen resident Russell Cantu. By I-chun Che Octogenarian Russell Cantu is passionate about cooking. His preserved pears won him the Best in Show Award in the 2000 California Living Food Competition. His jardiniere and jams won him first and second place in the Cindy Tufts California Grown Fruit Award at the 2000 California State Fair. But the Willow Glen jam master is now too weak to carry a pot. Cantu, 87, has been recovering slowly from the chemotherapy he began receiving when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer in January 2001. Although his two children live nearby, he doesn't want to bother them. He wants to live by himself in his house on Marlyn Way, where he has spent 36 years, many of them with his wife, who died in 1989. A man who used to like preparing elaborate Italian dinners for his children and grandchildren, now Cantu cannot even make scrambled eggs for breakfast. But a daily meal-delivery program has come to the rescue. The program, called Meals on Wheels, actually began in England in World War II, when a women's volunteer group began delivering hot meals to those who had lost their homes due to German bombs. The group also provided nourishment to soldiers via canteens. The program came to America, at first serving only a handful of seniors in a limited area, but expanded nationwide throughout the 1950s. The local program is administered by the Willow Glen-based Health Trust—a public benefit organization founded in 1996 to manage and distribute the profits from the sale of the nonprofit Good Samaritan Hospital to the for-profit Columbia/Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). The Santa Clara County Meals on Wheels program delivers hot meals Monday through Friday to the houses of about 250 frail elderly and disabled people like Cantu. The clients get box lunches on Friday for their weekend meals. Every meal is prepared by the Nutrition Services Department at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, and is individualized according to the client's dietary, medical or other special requirements. Each meal costs $6.30, and clients pay based on their ability. One of Cantu's recent lunches included tamales, Spanish rice, green beans, a dinner roll, chilled fruit cocktail and orange juice. "I don't eat everything, but I like the fact that they have a lot of vegetables," he said. Cantu, who has been with the program for a year, said that the daily meal delivery gives him at least one well-balanced, nutritious meal each day without his having to shop, prepare food or leave his house. He often saves some of his lunch for dinner because the portions are so substantial. Cantu said that knowing someone will check up on him every day is as important as the hot meal he receives. "My Meals on Wheels driver is sometimes the only social contact I have had for days," Cantu said. All Meals on Wheels drivers are trained to observe the clients' home and health and to note any changes that are potentially hazardous to their well-being. In one case, a Meals on Wheels driver saved a 103-year-old woman's life. He found her after she had had a slight stroke and had been in the bathtub for 18 hours. In a letter to the Health Trust, the woman's son said, "Thanks to this wonderful service and daily check on her well-being, she can continue to live in the comfort of her own home rather than having to be institutionalized." The local Meals on Wheels program has also proven to be a rewarding experience for the program's 30 volunteer drivers. Volunteer Andy Miller, 38, has been delivering meals every Monday with Alexa, his 3-year-old daughter, for six months. He learned of this program because his 84-year-old landlord has been a client of the Meals on Wheels service for the past four years. Miller, who is in the process of a divorce, said that he finds participating in the program therapeutic. "This is healthy for me, to get the focus off myself," Miller said while driving his 1999 Subaru mini-SUV to deliver meals. "It provides me balance and it reminds me of the important things in life." Miller also believes that taking Alexa along to deliver meals not only provides a good educational experience but also helps her overcome her shyness. "It is a social thing," Miller said. "I want her to be more comfortable with people she doesn't know." Last year, roughly 74,000 meals were served in Santa Clara County, with more than 91 volunteers helping to deliver hot food on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Besides the Meals on Wheels service, the Health Trust offers many other programs volunteers can contribute to and Santa Clara County residents can benefit from. The Health Trust operates eight school-based health centers that offer primary health care and dental services to low-income children in four of Santa Clara County's school districts. Students from Gardner Academy and Willow Glen Middle and High schools can go to the Washington Neighborhood Health Center on 100 Oak St. Booksin School students can go to Erikson Family Support Center on 4855 Pearl Ave. The Health Trust has estimated that the health clinics handled 11,000 visits and delivered health education to 23,000 students countywide in 2001. Another health program the Health Trust offers is a family health insurance program. According to the organization's research, there are about 70,000 uninsured children in Santa Clara County. The program helps these children to be covered under free or reduced-cost insurance. In addition to services for children and the elderly, the Health Trust provides nursing, case management, counseling and emergency fund disbursement for individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS. The nonprofit agency also gives grants to community-based organizations and hospitals. In 2001, about $4 million was given to 14 medically related services and more than $600,000 to 37 grassroots, community-based health prevention and awareness groups. "Our goal is to improve health and quality of life for people in need in Santa Clara County," said Catherine Edwards, vice president of the Health Trust's communications department. For more information, contact the Health Trust at 408-599.9385 or visit its website at www.healthtrust.org. |
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