Services for seniors are frozen in place — like almost everything else — as a blizzard wallops Eastern Massachusetts.
Hundreds of thousands of homes have lost power, with the worst of it on Cape Cod and the South Shore. With persistent strong winds preventing crews from doing safe repair work on power lines, utility companies and local officials are warning that it could be days before power returns.
That makes it tough for organizations that deliver food to seniors. Fortunately, local social services organizations told GBH News that they were able to drop off extra meals ahead of time for many older residents who typically have food delivered to their homes.
“It might be another couple of days for delivery because there’s a lot of power lines down,” said Maryanne Ryan, CEO of Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands. “We imagine it takes a day or two for people to dig out and get power restored to get our care team back out there.”
More than two feet of snow had fallen on Boston by 2 p.m. Monday, and 20 inches in Plymouth.
Ryan’s own power is out, like much of the Cape. Most or all homes have lost power in towns including Plymouth, Barnstable, Truro and Provincetown, the state’s power outage map shows.
With such dangerous conditions on the Cape, Ryan suggested people reach out to the local fire department if they have an emergency.
Lisa Gurgone, who leads Mystic Valley Elder Services, said her organization also dropped off extra meals to its highest-risk clients last week.
“We’re just staying put because we do have meals on wheels drivers, but it’s just too dangerous for them to try to get around today,” she told GBH News.
Gurgone and Ryan urged people to check in on older neighbors and help them out if they can.
“Tomorrow, we’ll be open, but sometimes people’s driveways aren’t cleared or their walkways aren’t cleared,” Gurgone said. “That’s the problem with these big storms like this — the first day, I think, people can prepare. It’s the second day ... where everyone else goes back to work and these people who are older and are homebound, it’s still hard to get to them.”
