Local legislators get plate lunches to hospital staffers
Published 8:00 am Tuesday, April 7, 2020
- District 96 Rep. Marcus Bryant and District 48 Rep. Beau Beaullieu, center right of photo, look on as representatives from various hospital departments pick up the meals the two legislators provided for the Iberia Medical Center staff Tuesday. Beaullieu and Bryant plan to buy meals for four days and are hopeful others in the community continue the practice.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to expand across the country, medical workers from doctors to nurses, from technicians to maintenance workers, are continuing to keep the first line of defense against the disease operating.
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When you combine the demands of the job with the restrictions on grocery stores, closed restaurants, curfews and stay-at-home orders, it can be difficult for those employees to get a solid meal, either on the clock or off.
That’s why two local legislators are hoping to jump-start an effort to provide meals for workers at Iberia Medical Center while the COVID-19 fight is still on.
“We’re going to try to move it around, providing meals for the day shift and the night shift,” District 48 Rep. Beau Beaullieu said Tuesday as he and District 96 Rep. Marcus Bryant dropped off pork chop plate lunches from the New Pelicans on the Bayou. “We want to make sure that everyone is covered.”
In the days of social distancing and tightened access to hospitals, it isn’t as easy as pulling a trailer into the parking lot and letting workers come out to eat. Instead, Beaullieu and Bryant brought boxes of lunches to the hospital’s conference room, already counted out and packaged for the various departments, so that a representative from each section could take the meals for their respective department inside the facility.
The two freshman legislators are paying for the first four days of the effort. The goal is to find other groups or volunteers to pick up the mantle and keep the meal service going.
“We’re already talking to some businesses, some members of the Parish Council and other people in the community,” Beaullieu said.
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“I will be reaching out to the New Iberia City Council,” Bryant said.
The logistics of the operation once Beaullieu and Bryant kick off the first week will fall on the Iberia On Tap group. Because IOT is a 501(c)3 organization, donations made for the effort will be tax deductible for the donors.
“After this week, we are just the salesman for the effort,” Beaullieu said.
Anyone wanting to donate to the effort or sponsor meals can reach out to Iberia On Tap at info@iberiaontap.com or to the two legislators themselves.
Beaullieu can be reached at 373-4051 and Bryant can be contacted at 373-9380.
