Aside from responding to emergency service calls day in and day out, crews from Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services once again went the extra mile this holiday season.
Late last month, firefighters and emergency medical technicians took time to deliver more than 100 hot meals to area homebound senior citizens, via the Pahrump Senior Center’s Meals on Wheels program.
Pahrump Fire Chief Scott Lewis said the department has continually undertaken the altruistic effort for more than a decade.
“We feel it is extremely well worth it because it’s a great cause to get the meals out to our seniors who are not necessarily able to get out and enjoy their meals at the Pahrump Senior Center, or to prepare it for themselves,” he said.
Additionally, Lewis noted the endeavor allows crews to assess the physical condition of both the homes and the elderly recipients.
“It gives our men and women the opportunity to number one, get to know our senior citizens, and number two, it also allows us to perform scene size-ups and risk assessments throughout the valley where we could recognize things that could impede our ability to save a person in the event they have a fire or another type of related emergency. It also allows us to talk to them and maybe find out if there is something that we can help them with or if there’s something they just didn’t recognize as a potential problem.”
Lewis also credited the local senior center for taking the initiative to provide the holiday meals for the homebound residents each year.
“The senior center does such a great job and Site Manager Anne Blankenship-Harris is so instrumental in getting everything ready for us,” he said. “It’s just a matter of us to pick up the meals and deliver them to the seniors.”
Aside from lunch being served to an average of 100 seniors Monday through Friday at the West Basin Avenue facility, the center provides seven nutritious meals to approximately 130 homebound seniors each week.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com