While parts of the world may have been forced to stop working due to COVID-19, the Dubbo branch of Meals on Wheels is showing little sign of slowing down in the wake of further outbreaks.
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Staff at the organisation are still moving forward without the aid of their usual raft of volunteers, for safety reasons, and are expecting that to be the norm for the time being.
Manager Peter English says it'll be another month 'at least' before the organisation looks at changing the current status quo.
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"With the way things are going in Victoria and NSW, that's going to be the situation until the end of September when we'll look at it again," Mr English said.
The volunteers, many of them in the at-risk age bracket themselves, were stood down in April.
Student nurses from CSU have picked up the slack across all three towns the organisation covers, and things seem to be progressing well.
"It is working out quite well at the moment for us, we have the student nurses from CUS who are mostly employed to our frontline, delivering meals and looking out for our clients across Dubbo, Narromine and Trangie," Mr English said.
"Our strategy is to protect the vulnerable in our community as per the health directive, quite a few of our volunteers are in that vulnerable, over 70-years-old age group."
"The board have been very decisive in making sure that we're not putting them, or our clients at risk."
To that end, mandatory facemask usage is now the norm and while Dubbo is well stocked for the moment, the broader NSW Meals on Wheels organisation have put out calls for volunteers to begin making masks.
"In the last ten days we've started using the masks as per the government's suggestions," Mr English said.
"It can be a little confronting when people in masks knock on the front door, but we have to do everything we can to help alleviate any possible risks to our clients."
While Mr English lamented that disposable masks aren't the most environmentally conscious option, they are what's most readily available at the moment, with the organisation wanting to ensure that any masks in use are of good quality.
"It gives us some guarantee that the masks have some credibility," Mr English said.
"That might not end up being a sustainable avenue, though, both buying them and from an environmental perspective."
"If the credentials of people making masks that meet the requirements and are three layers check out, that's definitely something that could have some benefits."
It's an avenue that Meals on Wheels are happy to explore, provided they can meet the accepted standards.
"We've approached the rotary clubs here in Dubbo to see if they could organise making or buying some masks and there's been some favourable reception, but everything right now takes time," Mr English said.
"If anyone in the community is making masks that they'd like to donate to the elderly, provided they meet the requirements, we'd certainly welcome any donations."