Seniors enjoy good food, fellowship

The group of men sitting around a table in the UT Health Pittsburg café traded barbs and good-natured ribbing between forkfuls of hearty meat and potatoes, healthy homecooked veggies and sips of iced tea.

“We appreciate the food. It’s good, and the servers are real nice,” John Wade, who has diabetes, said as he and six friends gathered for lunch last Thursday. “I cook in the microwave most of the time, and my doctor tells me this is a good, balanced diet; just don’t eat too much.”

They meet like clockwork to get a nutritious meal, play a game or two and shoot the breeze. The men are part of a select number on a free senior lunch program sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging through a partnership with Camp County and the local hospital. Two of the men are still waiting for their applications to be approved, but they come, paying out of their pockets for an affordable meal and nothing extra for the fellowship.

“We’ve been doing this about a year, and I have to give credit to (County Judge) AJ Mason,” said UT Health Pittsburg CEO Warren Robicheaux. “He called us and asked if we would be interested.”

Mason told Robicheaux that the AAA was looking for another contractor to provide meals for older Camp County citizens.

“No contractors to provide the service were forthcoming, and the future of the program was in jeopardy. AAA staff visited my office looking for a solution and the idea to partner with UT Health, then ETMC, was explored,” Mason said.

From their first conversation, UT Health was on board, Mason said.

“The program fits perfectly with the hospital’s mission of taking care of people in the community and, of course, nourishment is a big part of someone’s health, so I said it was something that we could work out,” Robicheaux said.

Since then, the number of participants has grown to about 20 with seniors waiting on a list to get approved to receive their lunch card.

“It’s designed to get nourishment to some of these folks who don’t have the means to prepare a well-balanced meal. We’re serving them an ADA-approved diet here,” Robicheaux said. “But, it’s not only about the food. You can tell there’s a social aspect to it. There’s a Dominoes group and a cards group. They come out about 30 minutes before lunchtime and stay for about an hour after.”

Mason said it took several months to work through the state approvals but now serves as a model for other rural communities in Northeast Texas.

“It’s a win for all involved, and it meets the needs of our qualified citizens,” Mason said. “It also meets the mission and goal of the AAA nutrition program and provides an opportunity for UT Health to make another contribution to our community.”

Robicheaux said the hospital serves about 300 senior meals per month and is looking into adding an educational component in the near future.

“It’s probably been as rewarding for us as it has been for them,” he said. “It’s been a great project. It’s just one of those things that we didn’t even know there was a need and Judge Mason did a good job connecting with the AAA folks and us.”