Morgan City senior center is back after COVID closure

After 16 months, all St. Mary Council on Aging senior citizen centers are open again.

On Monday, Morgan City’s center in the Parish Government Building, 301 Third St., reopened more than a year after being shut down as a COVID-19 mitigation measure.

Franklin’s center was the first to reopen earlier this month, and Patterson’s center followed last week.

Council on Aging Director Beverly Domengeaux welcomed 10 people, including council board member David Boudier and bus driver Henry Brown, to the 10 a.m. reopening beneath a red, white and blue “Welcome Home” sign.

Visitors at the centers, which are open for a few hours at midday on weekdays, get a meal, take part in activities and enjoy companionship.

“It’s the visiting and just getting out,” said Grace Garrett. “And the food.”

“We missed it,” said Sally B. Comeaux. “We missed our friends here. We missed the relationships with them.”

“It helps the day go by,” said Linda Darbonne.

Domengeaux told the seniors that she’s heard criticism over the decision to wait until now to reopen the centers.

“We are governed by [Centers for Disease Control] rules for health care,” she said. “When all this started on March 18, 2020, my orders from the governor were ‘keep your seniors safe.’”

That also meant keeping them fed and keeping them from feeling isolated and alone. And it worked, at least as far as COVID is concerned.

“Even though we’ve lost a lot of friends, it wasn't because of COVID. It was because of age, underlying conditions, and I’m a nurse, so I’ll say it — clinical depression,” Domengeaux said.

The centers reopen just as public health officials sound alarms about a possible fourth wave of COVID cases, fueled by the highly transmissible Delta COVID variant and low vaccination rates,.

“We’re not going to do anything to put you in jeopardy,” Domengeaux said. “If we have to close up again, we’ll get a meal to you just like we did last time. …

“This is your home. This is your place.”

The center was supposed to deliver 201 meals a day during the pandemic. It wound up delivering 400 weekday meals as well as nonperishable items that could keep the seniors going through the weekends.

Also Monday, each of the seniors who attended the opening received one of the fans collected by the Council on Aging to help cope with the Louisiana summer.