{"id":47151,"date":"2021-04-26T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T04:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/senior-centers-resume-indoor-dining-socializing\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:36:56","slug":"senior-centers-resume-indoor-dining-socializing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/senior-centers-resume-indoor-dining-socializing\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior centers resume indoor dining, socializing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Senior
Senior centers in Montezuma County have reopened to indoor dining. In Cortez, diners visit with friends they have not seen in a while.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Seniors can get together again for midday meals at Montezuma County senior centers in Cortez, Mancos and Dolores.<\/p>\n

The dining halls were closed for up to a year because of the pandemic, and meals had to be delivered or picked up to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so happy to have our seniors back,\u201d said Linda Germaine, a site coordinator for the Montezuma County Senior Center in Cortez. \u201cMany in the community have not seen each other for a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic restrictions were especially isolating for seniors, said diner Shirley Martinez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can get lonely,\u201d she said. \u201cSeeing friends is why we come here, and it\u2019s nice to eat someone else\u2019s cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cortez location at 107 N. Chestnut St. is serving indoor dining meals on Mondays and Wednesdays, starting at 11:30 a.m. Beginning May 10, the center will add Fridays as well for indoor dining.<\/p>\n

More activities such as bingo and movies are expected to return in May, Germaine said.<\/p>\n

County senior centers adjusted meal operations for pandemic safety, said director Jon Parker, and the plans were reviewed and approved by the Montezuma County Health Department.<\/p>\n

Indoor diners are asked to call 970-564-2772 the day before attending. There is a cap of 20 people for indoor dining. Only 10 to 15 are showing up in Cortez, so there is room for more.<\/p>\n

Upon entering the dining hall, diners must wear masks, and everyone has their temperature taken. Everyone uses a hand sanitizer station upon entering. After they are served a meal and sit down to eat they can remove their masks. Groups are spread out more as a precaution.<\/p>\n

When indoor dining resumed in early April, it was like a reunion, said Parker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was so much excitement and chatter, people really missed their friends,\u201d he said. \u201cWe made it a safe, comfortable place to return to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, 25 to 30 diners would regularly get together for the meal at the Cortez location.<\/p>\n

Meals for seniors were provided during the pandemic through delivery via Meals on Wheels program, Parker said, and that trend is continuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome delivery is becoming more permanent, and we need more volunteer drivers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The senior center delivers 60 to 70 meals per day, up from 40 per day before the pandemic.<\/p>\n

In Dolores, seniors can have a midday meal and socialize Mondays and Wednesdays at the Dolores Community Center, 400 E. Riverside Ave.<\/p>\n

In Mancos, midday meals are served for indoor dining Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Masonic Lodge at 141 E. Montezuma Ave.<\/p>\n

For more information about senior center services, call 970-565-4166 or visit their website at montezumacounty.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

returns to senior centers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,13,28,29,687],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-47151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-senior-citizens"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87134,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47151\/revisions\/87134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47151"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=47151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}