Photo Courtesy of Sonia Whyte Irvington Senior Citizens Community Center
Irvington Senior Citizens Community Center
IRVINGTON, NJ — Like other cities in the state, Irvington has seen the closure of nonessential businesses due to Gov. Phil Murphy’s stay-at-home executive order. Essential businesses, though able to remain open, must follow precautionary guidelines, such as the wearing of protective masks and the consistent cleaning of frequently touched surfaces. Not deemed an essential business, the Irvington Senior Citizens Community Center has had to close its doors.
Seniors are most at risk during the outbreak, though the virus can take anyone’s life, regardless of age. Following contraction of the disease, senior citizens are at a greater risk of succumbing to it — and are doing so at alarming rates. Mayor Tony Vauss and his administration are committed to protecting elderly citizens from this pandemic, as the community continues to navigate the other side of the curve.
Director of Health and Senior Services Sonia Whyte went into great detail about how the administration continues to protect senior citizens in the community.
“The Senior Citizens Center is currently closed due to the outbreak,” Whyte said on April 28. “The administration, with the Health Department, came to a consensus deciding that we were going to keep the most vulnerable population home. We got ahead of the outbreak in an effort to keep them safe and postponed all events.”
When asked how the senior citizens are doing amid the outbreak, Whyte made it apparent that the elderly population is a major priority.
“We do wellness checks. We came up with a plan of what we were going to do, we’ve worked closely with manager of Irvington Senior Citizens Community Center Gloria Chison and called and checked on the senior citizens daily,” Whyte said. “We have really good food distribution in an effort to get food to our seniors, which consists of hot meals and nonperishable items.”
Moving forward, their job is not only to protect all residents, but to take special care of the seniors because of the greater risk posed to them in the face of COVID-19.
“We encourage them,” Whyte said. “We’re always checking in to make sure if there’s anything they need. Telling them to stay home and encouraging them to stay put and also, to make sure their needs are being met socially. We’re making sure we’re communicating with them, because some of them end up being alone.
“Gloria Chosen, the administration, the mayor, as well as Executive Director Deborah Smith-Simpkins of the Irvington Neighborhood Improvement Corporation, who have been providing us food distribution to give to the seniors, and the bus drivers, they’ve all done a really great job,” she continued. “I think we’re doing a really great job with them. We’re ensuring our seniors are well taken care of.”
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