The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and adult day care facilities across the state partnered to deliver nearly 1 million meals to seniors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic from April 2020 to December 2021, according to new data released by the department today.
“Seniors often face physical or health-related issues that affect their nutritional needs,” said Naomi Steenson, CDPHE Child and Adult Care Food Program director. “We are extremely proud to have been a part of this community effort to support the state’s seniors during this unprece- dented time.”
The Child and Adult Care Food Program reimburses participating child care centers, homes, and adult day care centers for nutritious meals and snacks served to children and adults. One of the program’s goals is to make it more likely that seniors—especially those with limited incomes—will have access to healthy meals to help maintain their health and prevent or delay assisted living and nursing home placements. Because many of those adult day care centers closed their doors for fear of spreading the virus following the pandemic’s start, many adults who would normally be served by those centers could not access those meals.
To avoid cutting people’s access to healthy meals, CDPHE and participating Child and Adult Care Food Program adult day care centers moved quickly to take advantage of federal waivers allowing for the delivery of meals outside of the centers. Temporarily switching to a delivery model allowed participating Child and Adult Care Food Program
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centers to increase the number of people they served, with an average of 47,574 meals served every month between April 2020-December 2021, an increase of 15 percent over the pre-pandemic average.
The United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services funds the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Nutrition Services Branch administers the program. Child and Adult Care Food Program adult day care centers follow USDA-FNS meal standards, which include milk, fruits, vegetables, grains and meat/meat alternatives. The meal standards allow for a wide variety of culturally sensitive foods, and participants have the opportunity to choose from a selection of foods at each meal.
While federal waivers allowing for food delivery during the pandemic expired at the end of June 2022, participating adult day care centers report sustained increases in the number of meals served every month. Adult day care centers in Colorado can learn more about the program and opt-in by calling 303-692-2330 or visiting cdphe.colorado.gov/CACFP.
