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City could partner with New Mexico Family Services for meals programs

Las Cruces Sun-News - 7/28/2020

LAS CRUCES - The city may partner with an organization which provides medical, behavioral health and wraparound services to build on its existing meal assistance programs to help seniors, families, people with disabilities and those with chronic illnesses.

The Las Cruces City Council, at a work session Monday, heard from New Mexico Family Services, a company with offices in Sunland Park, Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Alamogordo.

NMFS Director Lourdes Torres gave the council an overview of what her organization does before asking about ways it could partner with the city to set up a local kitchen to distribute meals and host cooking classes.

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NMFS provides a wholistic model of care, Torres explained. Along with treating physical and mental health conditions using a medical staff, NMFS also helps people find jobs, secure housing, stick to a healthy diet and helps children and families navigate divorce.

"We're targeting skills and treatment for them to live a safe, healthy and stable lifestyle," Torres said.

NMFS has been operating since 2013 and provides numerous on-site services to treat the needs of people of all ages. Some of the needs NMFS addresses are mental and behavioral health conditions, family medical services, chronic illnesses, substance abuse, trouble at home, hunger, homelessness or foreclosure and joblessness.

Two services NMFS offers are food distribution and group cooking classes for patients as part of a treatment plan to meet dietary and nutritional needs.

Patients can either get their meals at an NMFS facility or it can be delivered to their homes, Torres explained. The cooking classes can be useful for residents who may have dietary restrictions because of their medical conditions.

The food distribution plans are individualized, Torres said, based on a medical evaluation, lab work, the foods the person typically has around the house and their specific chronic illnesses, like diabetes.

Torres said the organization is certified to deliver meals to anyone. Unlike a similar county program, Torres said NMFS is not restricted to homebound people or restricted within certain age or income brackets. But people who are homebound can get the food delivered from NMFS.

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"My request was to see if we can get funds to build a kitchen," Torres said. "And also if there was a facility available in Las Cruces that we can utilize so we can implement some of these services for food distribution."

Meals are currently cooked at a senior center in Sunland Park and distributed locally there, Torres said. But Las Cruces is too far for delivery from Sunland Park, so NMFS needs a kitchen here to prepare meals.

"We have a lot of patients in Las Cruces that want us to start serving," Torres said.

Councilors appeared supportive of the request. No cost, timeline or specific proposal for a facility to be used is available yet.

"I could see a very nice partnership," District 1 Councilor Kasandra Gandara said.

A city press release sent Monday afternoon said the partnership could improve existing programs that provide elderly residents with meals. Mayor Ken Miyagishima has asked city staff to provide more information on the potential partnership, the city said.

The Sage Café Community Center was tossed around as an option for a facility, since some councilors were under the impression it wasn't being fully utilized. Lynn Gallagher, from the city's Quality of Life Department, said the center was being used to serve meals four days a week. So another option may be needed.

The work session happened as the city council could also possibly vote later this year on approving a contract for mental health crisis services with local clinic iNetMed Rx2 Inc. Services would include proactive outreach to the most frequent users of the 911 system, a crisis response team to respond alongside police and fire and an outpatient treatment center for individuals post-crisis.

More: City proposal would have social workers respond with police to mental health crisis calls

Johana Bencomo, the councilor from District 4, recognized the relevance of NMFS in the current cultural moment.

"I couldn't help but think about voices like yours often missing at the table when we discuss public safety," Bencomo said to Torres.

Torres told the council NMFS serves about 10,000 patients and currently employs an interdisciplinary staff of about 150 people but is looking to expand. NMFS is the only facility certified to provide family-oriented peer support in Doña Ana County, she said.

Michael McDevitt can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: City could partner with New Mexico Family Services for meals programs

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