As Victoria’s COVID-19 case numbers climb, the City of Ballarat’s Meals on Wheels team is continuing to deliver about 1,200 nutritious meals a week to some of the municipality’s most vulnerable residents.
To ensure the continuity of Meals on Wheels, the team has secured a new secondary site and will this week move its operations from the Eureka Centre to the Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility, City of Ballarat Council said in a statement.
The Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility site will operate alongside the main Meals on Wheels site in Mair Street.
Council Chief Executive Officer, Evan King said the additional site would allow Meals on Wheels, a critical service, to operate two separate workforce bubbles.
In the event one facility is identified as a COVID site, meal deliveries can continue from the other site without disruption to meal provision, he said.
The service is also establishing a back-up freezer stocked with two days’ worth of supply meals at a third location, to ensure there is no disruption to meal provision if both sites are compromised with COVID at the same time.
Two days’ supply of meals for residents will provide enough time for both sites to be cleaned and to return to operations.
Mr King said the Meals on Wheels COVID Safe Plan provided contingencies for all possible situations to ensure residents will continue to receive their meals throughout the pandemic.
“We are preparing as best we can in the event any of our work bubbles burst,” he said.
“The Meals on Wheels team is very nimble, with a single focus to care for the safety of our residents.”
The service will base its second site at the Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility for the next few months. A cool room will be established for Meals on Wheels in a storage area
Mr King said Meals on Wheels has not been impacted as a result of COVID-related supply chain disruptions.
In the event of a shortage of food products, the contractor has a continuity plan to access a range of alternative food products that will meet residents’ dietary requirements, he said.
