Washoe County's Latest Plan: How to Freeze Your Seniors While Pretending to Care

County Manager Eric Brown is cutting down on seniors salt content by serving them Fritos three days in row, and allowing processed deli meats to be the sandwich ingredients. This represents the new contract Brown and his team signed the $3.1 million contract with TRIO Community Meals. January 7, 2025 Washoe County 9th Street Senior Center.

Picon noted that media/press are asking questions as to the closure/remodel of the Washoe County Senior Center on 9th Street. You know, the facility that County Manager Eric Brown and his Human Services team are remodeling during the winter months in Northern Nevada.

Washoe County Daily Media Report, January 7, 2025.

Grab your parkas - Washoe County's putting on quite the winter performance. Picture this: elderly residents forced to wait outside a makeshift dining room in January because somebody thought winter was the perfect time to remodel the Senior Center. But hey, at least County Manager Eric Brown got his cozy $34,000 bonus. Who needs outdoor heaters when you've got all that warm bureaucratic air?

Picon noted the media/press are asking questions as to the closure/remodel of the Washoe County Senior Center on 9th Street, but they are simply reporting on the “county propaganda,” you know, how Washoe County Government cares about our seniors. Picon suggests media go to the 9th Street make-shift dining room, like we did on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week, oh, and don’t tell the powers that be at the county you’re stopping by.

On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, the seniors had to line up outside the makeshift location that seems to be a small meeting room inside the 9th Street Center that has become the temporary “dining area.” Unfortunately, they can only fit so many diners in the area meaning seniors need to wait outside in the cold.

Washoe Life announcement regarding the Washoe Senior Center congregate meals while the 9th Street Senior Center is being remolded.

·        How many people can fit into the dining area. About 40.

·        Do seniors have to wait outside? Yes, when the dining area is at capacity.

·        What if there is rain or snow since there is no shelter. Unknown.

·        Any outdoor heaters to keep the seniors warm when waiting. No.

Meanwhile, back at the December commission meeting, we were treated to the dynamic duo of Pamela Mann and Cara Paoli from the county’s Human Services Agency, performing their greatest hits: "We Really Care About Seniors (No, Really)" and "TRIO's Going to Try Harder This Time (We Pinky Promise)".

Washoe County Human Services Agency presentation at the December 17, 2024 Board of County Commission meeting. Renewing the TRIO Community Meals contract.

Let's talk about those "improvements," shall we?

• "Less menu repetition" = Here's your cold sandwich... three days in a row.

• "Special dietary options" = Well, we're thinking about it (maybe)

• "Sliced fruit for easier eating" = Here's your tiny, hard apple, try not to break a tooth.

• "Made from scratch meals" = Still waiting for the scratch to materialize

• "People eat with their eyes first" = Well, that explains why nobody's eating.

Photos of the cold Turkey Swiss Cheese Sandwich served to seniors on January 8th, and the cold Chicken Salad Sandwich served on Thursday, January 9th. Now the seniors are having to assemble their own meals. What happened to hot meals? A cold sandwich three days in a row is a contract improvement.

Pamela Mann said to the commissioners on December 17, 2024, “We negotiated a contract with TRIO which is the contract that is before you today, that offered a number of improved services, including improvement in the quality of food, in the selection and variety of food, the frequency of which meals are rotated on the menu has been improved, and a great deal of effort has gone into taking into consideration some of the feedback we received from the seniors about how the meal is served for example serving sliced fruit instead of whole fruit because they are easier to consume. We took a great deal of that into consideration.”

Mann and Paoli assured us that per the survey from 2023 seniors told us, “They would come back again, and they were satisfied with the meal. And please understand we really expect high quality for our seniors as well. So, this is something that is important to us.” Are they trying to tell us the meals that were being served over the last year were high quality? We have photos.

If TRIO had been providing high quality meals, then why did Mann assure us that now there will be, “Increased accountability for quality, presentation, taste. It was difficult to change a menu item that wasn’t popular, and they have worked in flexibility. Quarterly.”

A Salmon Burger and a Salmon Patty both served with a Whole Wheat Hamburger Bun is the same meal twice in a month. A cold sandwich three days in a row, we call that a repeat too.

They told us there will be more variety and less repeats on the menu – Picon notes that didn’t last even the month of January – since TRIO already has a repeat meal on their calendar and they are serving a cold sandwich three days in a row, turkey, chicken salad, and finally tuna salad, on January 8th, 9th, and 10th – so Pamela and Cara we sort of think a cold sandwich three days in a row is “repeats on the menu.”

A Picon reader posted these photos on our Facebook page. We wanted to share them in this story to show the quality of what is being delivered via the home meal program is the same that is served to our seniors daily at the congregate meals sites. We double dog dare anyone to find the tiny piece of Swiss Cheese we all got on Wednesday, January 8th. Basically we were eating more bread that meat and cheese. Oh, and before the county asks, Picon pays for our meals $4.

There now are supposed to be “options with individuals with specialty dietary needs, vegan or religion-based needs.” When Picon asked one of the TRIO employees about the options they said it was a question on the survey, and they are thinking about making options available if they can be worked out. So are there specialty dietary meals, vegan meals, and religion-based meals?

Oh, and let’s go back to the 2023 survey where seniors wanted sliced fruit instead of whole fruit since it was easier to eat. That is only occasionally on the January 2025 menu, and we note TRIO has gone back to tiny oranges, non-ripe bananas, and small apples. Cut-up fruit didn’t last long.

But the real showstopper? Making seniors wait outside in the winter cold because the temporary dining room only fits 40 people. Nothing says "we care about our elderly" quite like treating them like unwanted guests at their own community center.

Photo is from Washoe County’s Washoe Life and staff has marked the temporary dining entrance that clearly shows there is no shelter from the elements for seniors.

While Commissioners Hill, Garcia, Andriola, and Herman are busy patting themselves on the back for Brown's bonus, our seniors are out there doing their best popsicle impressions. But don't worry - according to that 2023 survey, they're all just thrilled with the food and service.

Remember folks, in Washoe County, "senior care" apparently means "care to make seniors wait in the cold." Stay frosty out there.