Holliston June 2020

June 2020 Holliston Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com Page 5
Holliston Senior Center Remote, but Active
By J.D. O’Gara
Serving a population that’s at
the highest risk for complications
from Covid-19, the Holliston Senior
Center has been working to
adapt its services to the current
“new normal.”
“It is certainly challenging
about the programming, and the
group that we serve, it’s likely to
be awhile before (we can open),”
says Linda Marshall, Director of
the Holliston Senior Center.
Staff is still working, albeit
from phones wired to their own
homes, calling and checking in
on the most vulnerable of the
population it serves.
“Most of our reaching out is
one on one, through phone calls
and checking in,” says Marshall,
“and we also have Facebook.”
The Holliston Senior Center
has recently begun working with
Holliston Cable Access Television
(HCAT) in offering some
exercise classes on their Fios and
Comcast channels, which will
also be offered on the HCAT
website, www.hcattv.org.
“We will be setting up a Pilates
class on there and an indoor
walking group, and our elder law
presentations. One of the other
things HCAT is doing is broadcasting
all the local worship, a
virtual worship service,” says
Marshall.
Services are offered live on
Sunday mornings, according to
HCAT director Bruce Gilfoy, at
9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Later, services will be posted on
the HCAT web page.
In addition to virtual programming,
the Holliston Senior
Center is continuing to offer its
meal program.
“Now, we don’t have our diners
coming to us; we come to
them” says Marshall. “Twice a
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week our caterer comes in and
puts together the meal into a Styrofoam
container, and it’s packaged
by our van drivers into a
plastic bag with a bottle of water
and a roll. They all have a scheduled
list, and our outreach coordinator
delivers the meals. It’s
also a well-being check.”
Recipients of the meals are
generally “somebody that would
struggle to make a meal for themselves,”
says Marshall, who adds
that the senior center’s outreach
coordinator is responsible for the
list, which includes, “Some of the
people who were originally coming
for lunch. We knew some of
those people, who, for a variety
of reasons are not able to make a
meal, or people who might have
picked up prepped meals.”
The cost of the meals is usually
a donation, but Marshall
notes, “Because we didn’t want
cash changing hands, we are in
the process of sending out a letter
asking if people are able to donate
just as if they were coming
to the senior center. It’s not mandatory.
We don’t want affordability
to be a factor, but some
would normally be paying that
donation.”
The senior center is also continuing
to offer transportation
through the Metrowest Regional
Transit Authority for essential
needs.
“If you need a prescription,
we’ll either take you or do it
for you, and for shopping, we’ll
take you during senior hours,”
says Marshall, adding that many
doctor appointments have been
postponed or are being done virtually,
but transportation is available
for such things as dialysis or
oncology. Passengers, limited to
three right now, and the drivers,
Holliston town employees, must
all wear masks, and seats are
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The Holliston Senior Center is remotely active, checking in on seniors, providing meals and transportation,
as well as working with HCAT to deliver virtual programming.
Photo used courtesy of the Holliston Senior Center.
blocked off for social distancing.
Overall, the change “has really
been a challenge,” says Marshall,
as even within the seniors
she serves, “they’re divided about
technology. The younger are
more likely to use technology in
some capacity, but 80 and above,
it diminishes significantly, and
those are more concerning. They
have in general more needs and
more health issues.”
Marshall encourages people
who are concerned about an
older person in town to call or
have them call the Holliston Senior
Center. The number is (508)
429-0622.
“I think it’s very important,
that as a community, we’re there
for each other,” says Marshall.
Not only is the senior center
there for its members, she says,
but its members are there for the
community. “We have a group of
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crafters who have been making
cloth face masks from the beginning,
providing them to patients
and meals on wheels volunteers
(and recipients), all the folks who
get lunch from us, other groups in
town and to employees in town.
Seniors are also able to give back
and stay safe. And it’s important
we can foster, for the ones who
can do something, to give back,
to do that, and that helps their
health and well-being.”
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