The Chinook Senior Center "reopened" last Thursday, March 11. State health mandates forced the Center to close several months ago over concerns of spreading COVID-19 to seniors, a group considered most vulnerable during the pandemic. After the lifting of some state-wide directives the regional Area Agency on Aging, an advisory group to regional senior centers, issued guidelines that if followed would allow reopening of senior centers in north central Montana. The Center's board of Directors drafted a plan for reopening the center that was reviewed and approved by the Area Agency on Aging and the Blaine County Health Department.

Karyn Higgins, Center Director, welcomed the 21 diners who attended the first served lunch for some time noting, "I'm really happy to see you all here." Even during the closure the Center continued to provide delivery and pick-up meals. Asked about the number of diners who showed up for the first meal after reopening, Higgins said, "I expected a good turnout but there were more diners than I expected. The response was great."

Some noticeable measures to minimize the spread of covid were in place around the Center's dining area. New hand sanitizing stations were installed at both entrances to the Center. To assure social distancing during meals the number of diners per table is now limited to four per table. Some chairs were marked with taped "X's" to indicated they were not for diners but in place to help maintain the distance between diners. Staff preparing the food wore masks or protective face shields and volunteers delivering meals in the dining room wore masks/shields and sanitary gloves.

Most activities now back to normal at the

Chinook Senior Center

Regular noon meals will be served Monday through Friday, with home delivery and pick-up meals still available. Fresh cinnamon rolls will be available starting at 7am on Thursdays. Reservations for noon meals or delivered meals should be made by 10am. Requests for additional cinnamon rolls are needed on Wednesday to assure enough are baked. Call the Center (357-2648) for meal or cinnamon roll reservations. Meal costs are $5 for diners over 60 years of age and $6 for those under 60. Guest diners are welcome with reservations. The band will be playing at lunch every Friday, just like before the closure.

Bingo will continue every Thursday at 1pm. Tuesdays, at 1pm, the Center will host a movie showing. Some activities will again be meeting Monday-Friday-like coffee served daily at 6am, 9am and 3pm-all in the dining room of the Center. Exercise machines are now available for use 7am-4pm, Monday through Friday. Machine users are asked to 'sanitize' the machines after each use. Sanitizing materials are available in the area where the machines are located. And there's already a good supply of jigsaw puzzles available for use anytime the Center is open.

Seniors and Center staff were excited to be back together

The responses by seniors and Center staff about being able to gather was enthusiastic and varied. The men seemed most happy about the return of the noon meal. Ray Reid said, "I'm glad the Center is open again. I much prefer the cooking over here to my own." Leland Standiford put it a bit more bluntly, "It beats a can of soup at home." Katie New Field, who was hired as the head cook during the closure, said about finally having diners back in the Center, "Feels normal, like cooking again for my big family."

For others being back at the Center was more about the social aspects allowed by the reopening. Virginia Olson commented, "I'm just glad to be out of the house after a year." Virginia admitted, "What I really like is playing cards. That's what we used to do in the country." Director Higgins explained that cards were not currently available for play at the Center but, "we're looking at some alternatives that could safely allow our seniors to resume playing cards again."

Roger Fischer, who plays guitar and is the driving force of the band that plays on Fridays during lunch at the Center said, "It's great to finally be playing together again as a band. We had a couple of rough spots, couldn't come up with certain words to songs in a couple of places but we made it fine." Mary Pyette, famous for her "Mary says..." quotes, had this one about the reopening: "Mary says, this is awesome to be back together!"

Chinook Senior Center volunteer Ben Hall, Center Director Karyn Higgins and Head Cook Katie Newfield prepare meals to be taken to diners at the Center during the first served noon meal at the reopened Center. The Center was closed following a lengthy shutdown due to precautions related to concerns related to COVID-19. Kathy O'Brien, not in this photo, was also volunteering and serving meals to diners.

The Chinook Senior Center relies on volunteers to keep things going at the Center, especially preparing, serving and delivering meals. To learn about volunteering or short term substituting for regular volunteers call Karyn at the Center (357-2648).