I am inquiring on the behalf of my brother, who is 63, totally blind, and is living in an assisted living facility in Jacksonville, Fl 32205. I'm trying to find a service that would deliver food and/or beverages to the AL facility where he lives. This facility does not provide regular shopping trips to places like Walmart or other grocery stores and since he is blind, he cannot drive himself. It would be great if he could place an order, either via telephone or online (with the assistance of myself or some other person with a computer), and have the delivery brought to the facility that he's living in.
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Oh good grief.... Walmart + elders = STRESS. Years ago I use to take my parents to Walmart, to them it was like going to DisneyWorld. Dad would get his cart, Mom would get her cart and they would go in opposite directions. Oh dear, who do I follow? I need to clone myself.
It was so exhausting, as I was re-shelving the items as my Mom had problems with seeing, thus she would pull off the shelf a can of peas and then couldn't find where the can belonged if she didn't want that can, so the can was put just anywhere. My OCD would kick in and that can of peas had to go back on the right shelf.
After an hour of me re-shelving, Mom had a full cart and was ready to check-out, but I had to find Dad first. I would sit Mom down in the pharmacy area and go hunt for Dad... around and around and around the store I would go, I walked what seemed like miles... eventually there was Dad... took him back to the pharmacy area... oops, Mom escaped... I would sit Dad down and go hunt for Mom.... eventually I would find her, she left because she was worried about Dad.
After checking out and getting my folks back into the car, which wasn't an easy task, Dad would want to go to Home Depot.... I was so tired I couldn't see straight, told them "no". Imagine going after a half dozen of seniors... it would be like herding cats !!
Where my Dad lives, there is an Assisted Living building and a separate Independent Living building, and the community bus only pickup residents at the IL door. One has to be mobile [walkers are allowed], somewhat clear minded, and be able to shop on their own within a certain time frame, as there is the driver and one Aide who helps the residents get on and off the bus.
I remember being in the grocery store and seeing a driver from one of the communities... he had everyone back on the bus except for one lady who still had a full cart of groceries who was roaming around the store... I overheard him tell her it is way past the allotted time, he needed to get the others back to the complex, but she wanted to keep shopping... [sigh]... so the Staff can have their hands full at times.
Request a refund for the actual amount you spent out of your pocket. If the expense exceeds the amount of money in his account, the extra can't be refunded. Same for clothes purchases, barber shop etc.
My spouse's facility won't release money ahead of time. I must spend my money on his behalf, submit receipt, and be refunded up to the amount that is in his account.
I've offered to order meals to go and bring to the facility. He won't go along with this because he still wants the outing along with the meal. I took him out before he became too hard to transport.
It's a burden on families forced to advance funds. They don't always have funds to advance. The accountant's office is open 8-5/Mon-Fri. Family schedules conflict with the facility's schedule. There may be a procedure in place for these situations.
Additionally, resident funds are not to be used toward tips, only the price of the item or service. Family needs to do the tipping with some of their money. Even if the place he goes out to has a campaign to donate $1.00 for hungry kids at the register, he is not allowed. You would need to donate a dollar of your own. When spouse was getting hair cuts at a local shop, he could not use any of his own money to tip the barber. I always tipped from my money.
Merchants usually require an order placed by phone or online be prepaid by credit card. So family has to provide a credit card number. They will deliver if family prepays with a credit card by phone, or cash at the storefront. That's how it mostly works in our community.
My parents didn't understand I would have spent more than $ .10 in gasoline to get that dime. Eventually I learned to just dig in my wallet and give my parents that dime, or quarter, or dollar, and tell them I would go to the grocery store later.... which I never did.
I use Peapod for my own groceries and for my Dad's groceries, and Peapod's minimum order size in my area is $60 with $9.95 home delivery fee. Or if someone can pick up the order at the grocery store, it can be ready and waiting for you curb side with a $2.95 pick up fee. I use the pick-up option, and believe me this has been a time saver for me. I can order groceries during a break at work in the morning, and pick my order up the next day :)