Senior centers slowly reopening in southern Illinois

Senior centers are slowly reopening across southern Illinois - ahead of other parts of the state, some of which won't reopen before October.

Becky Salazar, executive director of the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging, said Thursday that many senior meal programs in southern Illinois restarted on July 1, although both Perry and Franklin counties are still closed.

At the Gold Plate program in Du Quoin, Executive Director Tammy Asbury said they aren't sitting still, however, and are increasing the number of hot meal deliveries from one to two starting next week.

During the pandemic months, Gold Plate has been delivering one hot meal on Mondays and four frozen meals for the rest of the week. Starting next week, however, they will deliver hot meals on Mondays and Thursdays and three frozen meals on Mondays.

"We're going to work our way up gradually," to five-a-week hot meal deliveries, Asbury said.

Meanwhile, clients can also continue to drive up to Gold Plate for hot meals each day. The site itself will not open before Aug. 2, Asbury added, and no reopening date has been set.

The Illinois Department of Aging, which disburses the money to the local meal programs, has given wide latitude to individual senior centers on when they can reopen sites to the general public.

"Their guidance has been very flexible, you could open July 1 or wait," Salazar said. "In the state as a whole (southern Illinois) is ahead of the curve, as up north some are talking about not opening until October. But those areas are a lot more populated than southern Illinois."

Salazar said among the 13 counties in the Egyptian Area Agency, Perry and Franklin will probably be the last to open their senior sites to in-person meals and activities. The Franklin County site is having to make roof repairs, she said, and in Perry County the governing board of Gold Plate has decided not to rush into anything.

"If their board is a little hesitant and wants more time, that's perfectly understandable," Salazar said.

She said the earliest opening in the region was the Golden Circle in Harrisburg, which tried a soft opening on June 1. Their clientele started out as a slow trickle, although it has built up over the weeks.

Senior meal sites in Williamson, Massac, Union, Pulaski, Alexander and Johnson counties reopened July 1, she said. Besides Perry and Franklin, the other counties in the Egyptian Area Agency on Aging are Jackson, Hardin, Saline, Gallatin and Pope. The agency is headquartered in Carterville.

Each site has to file reopening plans with the Egyptian Area Agency before they can open their doors, Salazar added. She said seniors who are not vaccinated are asked to wear masks inside the facilities, although no one will ask for proof of vaccination. "We're on the honor system," she said.

Sites also will socially distance their tables and keep an eye on the number of diners in the facility at one time.

But even with those restrictions, Salazar said there are a "million" benefits to getting centers reopened.

"People are socially isolated and lonely and bored," she said. "Here, they get to eat their meals with people and not be so alone."

Besides, the centers offer more than meals - there are all kinds of activities seniors can participate in together, she added.