Disaster Recovery- Elders, San Antonio Puerto Rico

Nutrition is very important for everyone and specially for the elderly.  The elders must change their nutritional habits because of several reasons:  they may lose their appetite, their teeth or health conditions requires a change in their diet.  Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza is aware that the elders and the relatives must know the appropriate way to deal with these changes.  The nurse who visits our participants provides orientation in this area as well as the importance of taking the prescribed medicines as indicated.  Our organization distributes the meals during the weekends taking the nutritional aspect seriously.  Each weekend the elders receive a different menu.  They can get rice, beans, meat, vegetables, pasta, mashed potatoes, salads. 

Our participants got a present during Christmas.  Along with their meal, they received a gift which included basic need articles:  a towel, tooth paste and brush, shampoo, hair conditioner, soap, deodorant.  The elders were surprised and happy with the present and expressed their gratitute.  We were pleased to see their faces, this detail represents how much we care for them, specially for those living alone.

Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza is committed to our mission to serve this disadvantage group because of their low income and age with its limitations.  Each donation means a lot to us and specially the elders, this means that they are not forgotten and that we care (the organization and donors).  

Many services were given to the elderly during the last three months.  We continue providing meals so that our participants can receive a nutritional and healthly food.  One of our participants told us about the meal she received describing it as "delicious".  Nutrition and prevention is very important for a good health and we were able to do so with the meal and medical equipment distribution.

A new volunteer, was able to share his experience distributing the meals.  This is what he said:  "I recently graduated from Biology at the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Campus.  In my free time, I enjoy helping people in the community.  As part of the Honor Program Committees I had visited home care centers for elders and abandoned children.  I learned about Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza as a non-profit institution that has the mission to improve the quality of life of a low-income population, specially the elderly.  This really caught my attention and decided to sign up for a day as a volunteer in the meal distribution.  The person in charge was glad to show me all the procedure.  After my first experience, I liked the way the elderly were treated and the happiness it brought to them, some with physical limitations, others health medical conditions.  The elderly showed their satisfaction with the meal service and expressed their gratitude.  This experience was definitely the determinant factor for me to be a frequent volunteer."

During this year we've been able to provide a new service to the elder by providing medical equipment  Many of our participants are fragile or with health conditions such as:  high blood pressure, diabetes, among others.  Some of them received medical equipment to monitor the blood pressure and glucose.  Instructions on how to use the equipment was given by the nurse to the elder and his/her family.  She  explained the importance of doing a check up regularly.  They were able to understand that this will help them to keep their illness in control or to avoid future health complications.  The nurse will monitor the elderly health conditions which will help us to evaluate how effective is our elderly program.

 We are grateful that we can improve our services thanks to our donors contributions.