The overhaul of the Bronx Meals on Wheels program for senior citizens rolled out last Friday despite a three-month delay that advocates hoped spelled its eventual demise. 

"We knew this was going to happen, but we’re sad it’s happening," said Patricia Burlace, director of the Bedford Park Multi-Service Senior Center, which provided meals to local seniors. 

The city’s Department for the Aging (DFTA) announced last fall that it intended to trim costs on the Bronx’ homebound meals program by reducing the borough’s providers from 17 to two and lowering the cap on the cost of the meals. The controversial pilot also looked to deliver frozen meals weekly instead of hot ones daily to some seniors. 

Most Bronx Democrats backed the plan, dubbed "Senior Options," despite widespread protest from advocates and providers. (The Norwood News reported in March that at least one of the two agencies awarded the new contract had close ties to both DFTA and the Bronx County Democratic Committee.) 

Critics worried that seniors would suffer from the loss of daily contact with deliverers, and that reheating the meals could be too complicated. The city responded by lowering the quota of seniors who would receive frozen meals from 70 to 30 percent, and said that participation in the pilot was optional. 

"Senior Options represents an unprecedented effort to build greater service capacity at a time of limited resources and changing demographics," said Andria Cimino, a DFTA spokesperson, in a statement. More than 40 percent of current Meals recipients chose to participate in the program, according to Cimino.

But critics are still wary. "At this point, we are in wait-and-see mode," said Bobbi Sackman of New York’s Council of Senior Centers and Services, an advocacy group. "We still have concerns… about social isolation."

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum also expressed concerns about how DFTA has encouraged seniors to participate in the pilot. "The comments of seniors indicate that DFTA has not fully and clearly apprised them of the services changes and of their new options," she said in a statement earlier this week.

Additionally, a report by the city comptroller found that the pilot would actually cost $185,400 more in its first year because of multiple start-up costs, including giving microwaves and refrigerators to seniors who needed them.

The new providers are Regional Aid for Interim Needs (RAIN), which will cover all of the local area, and Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council. Though originally slated to begin in July, the city pushed back the pilot’s start date to give the agencies more time to prepare.

While critics hoped the three-month reprieve would become permanent, current providers received letters in September that the overhaul was under way. "They took back the trucks [last week]," said Don Bluestone, director of the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, referring to his agency’s delivery vehicles. "[The pilot] is a terrible disservice to the seniors."

An estimated 60 staff people were laid off from the consolidation, and DFTA says it is working to find them new positions. 

The city intends to test the pilot for a year with possible expansion to the other boroughs. Sackman says she will continue to monitor its development. "We hope [the evaluation] process will include community organizations and advocacy groups to make sure it’s fair and balanced," she said.

For local providers, many who have offered Meals on Wheels for decades, the change is a blow. "You want to see that things are getting better, but I’m not sure that this is it," Burlace said.

Dinowitz Reports Troubles With Pilot

As the Norwood News went to press, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, an opponent of the meals pilot, released an Oct. 5 letter he wrote to DFTA commissioner Edward Mendez-Santiago, reporting problems with the pilot. "My office and local senior centers have been swamped with calls complaining that they did not receive their meals or that the meals were late, and that they were receiving reheated frozen meals," Dinowitz wrote. "Furthermore, I am told non-Kosher meals have been delivered to seniors who should have received Kosher meals." 

The Norwood News will follow up on these complaints in our next issue.