NEI3A Closes Senior Centers, Meal Sites and Office Locations Due to COVID-19 Concerns

posted 3/16/2020 in Press Releases

Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging (NEI3A) has made the decision to close all of its senior centers and meals sites starting Tuesday, March 17, until further notice.  Individuals who attend the sites will be contacted today and given the option to receive a home-delivered meal. All office locations will also be closed to the public but will remain open to offer services.

“For the health and safety of the individuals we serve as well as our employees, we are discontinuing any group gatherings and will be conducting business over the phone as much as possible, but we will continue to deliver meals,” stated Donna Harvey, NEI3A CEO. “Because social isolation is an issue with the population we serve, we are setting up a plan to contact individuals regularly to continue to provide that human contact and assess nutrition or other needs they may have.”

If anyone needs information about meals, transportation tickets, or other services, we ask that you call 1-800-779-8707 instead of coming to any of our office locations.

NEI3A relies on hundreds of volunteers to deliver over 1,000 meals each day throughout Northeast Iowa.

“Our volunteers are a key part of our home-delivered meal program,” Harvey said. “With our congregate meal participants moving to home-delivered meals, we will need more volunteers to help get these critical meals out to the community.”

All volunteers will be provided with gloves for their safety as well as the safety of the person receiving the meal. If you are willing to volunteer to deliver meals in any of the 18 counties NEI3A serves, please call 1-800-779-8707.