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Programs and Services
Service
Services have been continually refined and enhanced
in response to changes in the HIV/AIDS epidemic and
provide a continuum of nutritional services that meets
the varied needs of this diverse community. The services
of Daily Home Delivered Meals, Meals for a Week,
Nutritional Counseling, and the daily contact with
clients by volunteer and staff delivery people have a
significant positive impact on the quality of life for
our clients by:
- Making the difference between life and death.
- Improving health and enhancing medication
adherence.
- Allowing clients to maintain independent living,
and hence, their role in the family.
Moveable Feast provides both Daily Home Delivered
Meals, and Meals for a Week service to not only the
HIV-infected individual, but dependent children,
spouses, and caretakers in the household. Family service
allows mothers and fathers to meet their own self-care
needs in living with HIV/AIDS and to maintain their role
as parents without the worry that they may not be able
to meet the nutritional needs of their children.
Daily Home Delivered Meals
Moveable Feast's original service, the Daily Home
Delivered Meals program is provided five days per week
for clients who are homebound with HIV/AIDS
or Breast Cancer in Baltimore City and
thirteen Maryland counties,
with a double delivery on Fridays for weekend meal
coverage. Each delivery consists of three meals
(breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and in some cases,
depending on the client's health status, liquid
nutritional supplements to increase daily caloric
intake. Each client's specific needs are met by
providing diverse menus appropriate to the individual's
health status. Moveable Feast meets special dietary
needs with renal, diabetic, soft, vegetarian (including
poultry and seafood), no dairy and no seafood diets. To
accommodate our client's cultural and religious food
practices, along with providing food lower in saturated
fat, none of our food contains pork.
Meals for a Week
In 1997, Moveable Feast responded to changes in the
HIV epidemic by implementing the Meals for a Week
program in the surrounding counties of Baltimore City.
Weekly delivery of one bag of groceries and
five frozen entries for People Living with
AIDS and women undergoing treatment for
Breast Cancer who are not fully homebound
but unable to return to work and cannot shop
for themselves. The Meals for a Week program provides a less intensive
level of service that meets the needs of people with
symptomatic HIV or AIDS who are becoming healthier and
more independent due to more effective drug therapies.
The Meals for a Week program targets clients who are
transitioning from a homebound status to increased
activities of daily living or because their medical care
requirements require them to be away from home for
extended periods. Meals for a Week provides a weekly
delivery of a bag of groceries and five frozen entrees
that were prepared by Moveable Feast. Groceries empower
the client by providing the client with a "safety net"
for times when they may be too fatigued or ill to
prepare their own meals.
For more information on Client Services, please call
Nancy Etheridge-Guest, the
Coordinator of Client Services, at
410/327-3420, ext. 13
Nutritional Counseling
A full-time registered Dietician provides
nutrition counseling and education to
clients and community groups. The
Dietician
assesses the nutritional status of each new client in
both Moveable Feast's Daily Home Delivered Meals and
Meals for a Week services within the first two weeks of
the client being on service. After the initial
assessment, effort is made to contact clients for
ongoing nutritional counseling at a minimum of once
every three months. However, nutritional counseling is
available whenever clients are in need; and many clients
use this service frequently.
Nutritional counseling consists of assessing
nutrition status and developing meal plans to fit the
client's life. Nutritional counseling in combination
with the food and meal services offered by Moveable
Feast is a powerful weapon in fighting the wasting
associated with AIDS. This counseling prevents the
problems associated with under-nutrition by providing
information about appropriate diets and healthy eating
habits. Education on food safety, nutritional strategies
that support medication adherence, and ways to manage
medication side effects are all aspects of nutritional
counseling that are important to the entire spectrum of
HIV-infected individuals.
For more information on nutritional counseling,
please call the Nutritionist,
Krista Kocherhans, at 410/327-3420, ext.
34.
Chef Training Culinary Program
- The Culinary Training Program teaches
basic kitchen and life-skills to former
Moveable Feast clients and others who are
physically able and mentally prepared to
re-enter the workforce. The 12-week
curriculum focuses on food preparation and
safety, cooking fundamentals, and job
readiness. In cooperation with partnering
organizations, successful graduates will be
given job placement assistance in the food
service industry.
- More information on Moveable Feast
programs is available on the Client Services
page. Please feel free to call us at
410/327-3420, ext. 13 and speak with Nancy
Guest, the Coordinator of Client Services.
Transportation Programs
- People On the Move
- People on the Move is an economic
development program which began in January
1999 for people living with HIV/AIDS. The
program is achieving two objectives:
- Creating job opportunities for
people living with HIV/AIDS, primarily
those who are currently unemployed
and/or in transition from homelessness.
- Establishing a shuttle service
providing transportation among sites
regularly used by homeless people in
Baltimore City.
Service: The shuttle began operation
with one van on January 20, 1999 with a
second van added February 15, 1999.
Passengers use the shuttle to obtain
services from facilities at the scheduled
stops or at other facilities near the stops.
Changes to scheduled stops are based on
passenger and provider input. Passengers are
picked up and discharged only at scheduled
stops. The two shuttle vans begin picking up
passengers at shelters at 7:30 am and then
complete scheduled routes throughout the
day. They return to shelters in the early
evening with the last stop at 7:30 pm. Stops
include healthcare, counseling, and social
service offices and other service provider
locations for the homeless.
Schedule and Route: The stops on the
shuttle were first set to initiate service
to facilities where there was expected to be
the heaviest need for transportation of
homeless people. Since start-up, the
schedule has been modified and refined to
include additional stops, and times have
been revised to address the appointment time
needs of both passengers and business hours
of the service providers. Besides the
shelters, now included are healthcare,
counseling, and other facilities.
Our Drivers: Comments from our
drivers illustrate the positive impact of
the economic development opportunity that
exists due to the shuttle:
"This program has many facets. It
allows a person living with HIV/AIDS to
re-enter the work force in a minimum
stress and less tiring job. It also
assists those who are homeless to keep
appointments which may help them to
become a more productive part of the
social order."
"The success of this program can be
measured by the constant employment of
people living with HIV/AIDS. There is a
reinforcement of their self-esteem. The
success of those people who are striving
to change their lives from unemployed
and homeless to more productive
citizens."
"This program has a twofold effect. One:
it helps people help themsleves, and
secondly: this program affords me to
become a productive member of society,
which has increased my self-esteem
greatly."
"The shuttle is helping the people who
society doesn't want to be bothered
with, because the shoe hasn't been on
the other foot. The passengers are ever
so grateful to 'People on the Move',
because this service understands that
homeless people are human. And someone
cares about his or her welfare."
"We transport people who otherwise may
not be able to afford the simplest forms
of transportation. Faced with all of the
other challenges of their day: knowing
that they have a way to get their
appointments to take care of their
business on time; and back to where they
live safely, and in a timely fashion,
puts their minds somewhat at ease."
"In the process of helping the homeless
people of Baltimore get to and from
their appointments is one thing. The
program also helps the people living
with HIV to get employment. As a result
of networking more people are able to
see that neither disease has to be an
end but this is a beginning to a new
more strong positive life. As a result
of the program, six women each with a
child or two has found housing and
employment."
Our Riders: Comments from passengers
illustrate the success of the shuttle in
assisting them to transition from the
problems caused by homelessness. The
accessibility of the shuttles and other
services made possible by "People On the
Move" service adds to its success. Most of
the passengers say the shuttle is a
blessing.
"The van made me feel I have a way to
take care of my business and to get
where I'm going. Because if it was not
for the van I would have to walk, so it
helps me a lot."
"I feel the van serves a great help in
doing the things I need to get places I
need. The van is a great service."
"Yes, the van service is a beautiful
thing for people who are homeless. It
takes you to places where you can take
care of your problems and the drivers
are so nice."
"'People On the Move' is a blessed
project that has happened for the city
of Baltimore. I thank you and keep up
the good work. God bless you."
For more information on the People On the
Move Program, call Vince Williams in the
Transportation Department at 410/327-3420,
ext. 26.
- Medical Transportation Program
- Transportation is provided for Ryan
White eligible persons who need
transportation to and from medical
appointments. Destination and client must
both fall within Baltimore City. The
transportation van is wheelchair-accessible.
To access this service, please contact your
case manager to see if you are eligible.
For more information on transportation
programs, please call Darrell Carter at
410/327-3420, ext. 17.
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