PROJECT HOMECOMING AVAILABLE COUNTY WIDE
Project Homecoming is a short-term meal delivery program designed to help patients more easily make the transition from hospital to home. Meals on Wheels of Boulder, Longmont Meals on Wheels, and Coal Creek Meals on Wheels have partnered with Boulder Community Hospital, Longmont United Hospital and Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center to make this service available to virtually all of Boulder County.
The service was created and launched by Meals on Wheels of Boulder in 2007. Longmont Meals on Wheels with Longmont United Hospital joined in 2010. In 2011, Meals on Wheels of East Boulder County and Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center completed the team to make Project Homecoming available to patients leaving the hospital and returning to their homes in Boulder County.
Project Homecoming consists of the delivery of five free meals to any patient, of any age or income being released from a hospital or rehabilitation facility. It is meant to ease the stressful hospital-to-home transition, especially for those who do not have immediate plans to provide food for themselves for at least the first five days. It includes a hot meal, delivered at noon, prepared to meet any dietary restrictions – delivered by Meals on Wheels volunteers. Frozen meals are available for weekends.
Hospital homecomings can be stressful even under the best conditions. “We originally estimated as many as 40% of patients leaving the hospital have no plans for meals upon their release,” said Francea Phillips, Executive Director of Boulder Meals on Wheels. “Our subsequent surveys of recipients of the service show the number who did not have plans for meals is actually as high as 54%. Further, many patients are sent home with new dietary restrictions which may be difficult and confusing. Receiving healthy meals can help smooth the transition, relieve anxiety and help patients get well faster.”
The cost of the service? It’s free for five days – with absolutely no strings attached!
Determining which Meals on Wheels agency will provide Project Homecoming is based on where the patient resides, without regard to what medical facility he or she is released from. Residents of Boulder, Gunbarrel or Eldorado Springs should contact Meals on Wheels of Boulder at 303-441-3908; individuals living in Longmont, Niwot or Lyons should call Longmont Meals on Wheels at 303-772-0540; residents of Lafayette, Louisville, Superior and Erie may call East Boulder County Meals on Wheels at 303-665-0566.
