Elliot Lake council will keep two COVID-19 programs for seniors and shut-ins in place for the time being.
With the pandemic the city implemented two programs the Age Friendly Delivery and the Age Friendly Check In programs to assist seniors and shut-ins to receive groceries, medications and essential items in a safe, contactless manner.
With reopening underway across Ontario, council has set a date for closing the programs by the end of August.
Councillor Luc Cyr expressed caution about fixing hard deadlines especially since how the virus could mutate could change the modelling curve and rates of infections.
In the end, council decided to set the deadline as August 31st but also agreed to meet again at the end of July to review the virus situation.
The programs are funded through federal funding.
The two programs were developed concurrently with the recommendation for vulnerable persons to isolate which were Age Friendly Delivers and Age Friendly Checks in. Age Friendly Delivers was created as a grocery and personal care delivery service partnered with both local grocery stores. Age Friendly Checks-In was a daily contact service for those in self-isolation without local support to check on them. Both programs were run utilizing existing city staff and have proven successful supports for the vulnerable sector since they began March 20, 2020.