How Meals on Wheels and Animal Rescue Saved a Life

Two weeks before the Presidential election and the Lake Forest City Council election, I received a call no one wants to get: my mother was involved a near tragic fall in her home. She fell late evening on Monday 10/24, and was found two days later by Meals on Wheels attempting to deliver her daily meal. They had attempted to deliver on Tuesday and received no response, but when my mother didn't answer the door on the second day, the Meals on Wheels volunteers called the local sheriff to do a welfare check. When the sheriff gained entry, he thought he had walked into a crime scene because my mom had fallen and shattered her nose, which caused a serious amount of bleeding. My mother was emergency air lifted to the hospital where the amazing staff at Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth were able to resuscitate her. I was on the next flight to Texas to see her.

Wall-E, my mom's faithful doberman, stood by her side, protecting her. The emergency team could not get close to my mom because the dog was ferociously guarding her. Hood County Animal Control of Granbury was called, and they collected the dog so the emergency crew could do their job. My mom was close to dying at this point, so the animal shelter's intervention could not have come a moment sooner. When I first heard that Animal Control had my mom's dog, I panicked. All I could think of was our own Orange County Animal Control, and how horrible they are to animals. But the Hood County Animal Control facility was the cleanest, well kept facility I had ever seen! The staff was incredible, they waived all fees for keeping the dog, and even made phone calls to help us find a foster family to watch Wall-E while Mom recuperated.

Many elderly really depend upon their pets, and when an elderly person get hospitalized, those pets need a place to go. If pets get stuck in an animal shelter like our OCAC, their chances of survival are not very good. There is a direct correlation between high kill rates and large shelters, and OCAC is too large, too old and not kept clean, which increases risk of disease. We need to be a voice to animals, and I've seen first-hand what a good animal shelter looks like after visiting Hood County Animal Shelter in Texas. We don't need to give OCAC $1 million dollars to build a new facility in which we will have no ownership. That's fiscally irresponsible. Dr. Jim Gardner proposed a viable no-kill option for our city, and a local vet offered to temporarily house animals until they could be adopted through local non-profit rescues. Our current Council majority (Robinson, Voigts, Hamilton) wouldn't consider anything but the OCAC, and it is at the peril of our pets. We can provide high quality animal rescue services in our own city, for a fraction of the cost.

After seeing the service that Meals on Wheels provided to my mother, I realized how life-saving their services are. Sometimes a visit from Meals on Wheels is the only visit these elderly residents receive in a day. In my mother's case, their visit saved her life. Although Meals on Wheels were denied use of vacant City Hall space (Dwight Robinson said it was too much trouble), I believe we can find a local restaurant that would be honored to allow Meals on Wheels to make meals for our needy seniors. Let's be creative, let's partner with Meals on Wheels to find a solution. Our seniors need this critical service.

Meals on Wheels and the OC Animal Shelter are two of the many reasons I decided to run for Lake Forest City Council. We need someone on City Council who cares about the residents and animals, otherwise we'll be stuck with the OCAC contract for TEN YEARS, and Meals on Wheels will not find a home in our city. Adam Nick and I are dedicated to fixing these two issues. This City Council vote is one of the most important votes I think our City has faced. Let's get Lake Forest on the right track.

I want to say thank you to Care Flight, Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, Meals on Wheels, Hood County Animal Control, and the Hood County Sheriff's department for being so good to our family. I've never met a kinder, more dedicated staff than these fine people. My mom is still in the hospital, but she should make a complete recovery.