Healthy at Home in Eye provides food delivery service for the elderly

Inspired by her late father and the snow chaos during the Beast from the East, Pamela Nugent set up a food delivery service for the elderly and ill people in the community.

Healthy at Home, based in Castle Street, Eye, brings home-made, hot meals to people who are unable to fully look after themselves or need a little extra help.

“Another reason that pushed me to do this is my dad, who came to live with me about six years ago and who passed away in December,” said Mrs Nugent, who is 54. “A lot of what I do, I do because of him.”

This week, Healthy at Home celebrates a year since its first order – a roast chicken for a woman in Hoxne – and has already started to expand its services.

“People sometimes are just lonely or they can’t get out, so we will go there and sit with them or take them for coffee. Our additional wellbeing service is something that’s grown because of demand,” said Mrs Nugent, who used to run the Queen’s Head in Eye and the Railway Tavern in Mellis.

She added: “We have this one woman who is on the border of ‘does she go into a home or does she not’. She doesn’t want to and all she needs is somebody to come by a couple of times a day and that’s what we do.”

The team of six, including Mrs Nugent’s husband Sam, check-in on elderly people while their family are on holiday, or make sure that they are safe and well in the evenings.

“It’s peace of mind. People are so grateful and happy and we get lovely notes and emails all the time.

“Many say things like how they appreciate it and if it wasn’t for us their mother might be in a home. That inspires us to keep going and do more,” said the-mother-of-two.

At the moment, Healthy at Home deliver meals to more than 20 people a day between Hoxne and Debenham.

Its extensive menu is cooked with fresh, local ingredients and individual dietary requirements are taken into consideration. Once a month, Healthy at Home also has a specials menu.

There is no contract and people can make use of the service however many times they like.

“It’s fantastic to be able to help these people,” said Mrs Nugent, who once worked in the catering industry on the Canary Islands.

“This is the best thing that I’ve ever done and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”

For more information on the service, call 01379 871 238 or visit their website.