Meals Program Falls Short

Irene Christie is 93. She can no longer drive, stand for long, or cook, not even to bake the pies that were once her specialty. But when the San Dimas woman signed up for home-delivered meals, she had to wait nearly six months for the first one.

Like thousands of seniors in Southern California who would benefit from meals delivered to their homes, she struggled to get by. A friend and her children sometimes brought her food, but she didn’t like to ask for it. “I’m a person who likes to be self-sufficient,” she said. “I ate what there was to eat.” Her daughter, who travels a lot, had suggested home-delivered meals in February, but weeks stretched into months because, in the San Gabriel Valley, 167 elderly people are on a waiting list for food.

The local hot-meal program, like hundreds of other food programs in the United States, does not have enough money to feed all people 60 and older who are legally entitled to five meals a week, not counting holidays. So program officials assign points to people who need assistance. Those coming home from the hospital who have no support get the most points and may not wait very long. Those like Christie, who can get by for a while, must wait until someone dies or the program finds more funding. “We basically do triage,” says Donald Herring, director of Intervale Senior Services, part of the YWCA of San Gabriel Valley.

Sometimes, depending on where they live, even seniors just out of the hospital can’t get meals immediately. “It’s a nightmare,” says Leah Monson, program director for the Southeast Area Social Services Funding Authority in Whittier. “People die while they are on the waiting lists. They are that frail.” At her program, 50 to 70 seniors are always waiting for a meal.

This food is crucial for many elderly people--sometimes, it may be their only meal of the day. Without it, malnourishment can take its toll. Breaking a bone, getting the flu or having surgery can prove too physically taxing; seniors may be forced into nursing homes prematurely or have to spend more days in the hospital when they get sick.

Then there are the emotional benefits. For some seniors, the man or woman who delivers their food is the only person they ever see, providing much-needed contact with the outside world.

Assigning points based on need is a kind of rationing system for older people in the richest country in the world. As more seniors need food, rationing will probably become more severe. In 1996, the most recent year for which there are data, 41% of the 4,000 programs in the country had waiting lists, according to the federal Administration on Aging.

In California, nearly 11 million meals were delivered to 56,000 home-bound elderly people in 2000. Hundreds more are waiting, although no one knows the exact number, since waiting lists come and go depending on the season and the flow of money to the food providers. In Los Angeles, 481 people were waiting in April, according to Rushmore Cervantes, interim general manager for the City of Los Angeles Department of Aging. At the moment, he says, no one is waiting, because additional funding has erased the waiting list for a while. By 2010, there will be almost twice as many people 85 and older than there were in 1990. By contrast, the number of people 65 to 74 will grow only 16% over the same period. The need for meals is greatest among people older than 80, more than half of whom have disabilities that prevent them from shopping and preparing food.

Congress anticipated the elderly’s need for food aid 30 years ago, establishing two programs--one that provided hot meals at places where seniors could gather and one that used local food providers to deliver meals to homes.

Federal funding has not kept pace with the need, particularly squeezing the home-delivered meals program, which has caused waiting lists to swell. The other program has also suffered, although demand for meals served at senior centers has not grown as rapidly.

This year, the federal government will give both programs some $716 million, a fraction of the billions that the National Institutes of Health gets to discover new cures to help people live longer. Each year Congress doles out a little more money, but nowhere near the amount the programs say they need. By the time this year’s increase of $36 million trickles down to all the programs in the country, the impact on some will be negligible. The federal government never intended to provide all of the money. States must add at least 15% of the total cost, although some kick in more. But now with state budgets strained, extra money will be scarce. Local governments also contribute. So do philanthropic organizations. Congress anticipated that some of the funding would also come from seniors. Although they are not required to pay for their meals, many do, even if it’s only 50 cents toward the $5.30 it costs on average to provide one meal. In some places, contributions, especially for home-delivered meals, are declining. “As people age, they may not be able to afford it,” says LuVerne Molberg, director of the Riverside County Office on Aging.

Whether programs have waiting lists or can offer extra meals on weekends and holidays depends on fund-raising. Rosemary Regalbuto, who directs Meals on Wheels West, serving communities such as Santa Monica, Malibu and Pacific Palisades, says her program has no waiting lists. It is able to deliver two meals a day, seven days a week.

Other programs are not as fortunate. Monson says fund-raising is a struggle in southeastern Los Angeles County. Three years ago her program offered the elderly two meals on the weekends but had to discontinue them so it could serve more people one meal Monday through Friday. “If we hadn’t made that choice, our waiting list would be in the hundreds,” she says.

It’s easy to overlook the problem of hungry seniors. The homebound elderly are largely invisible. They don’t like to admit they are hungry and can’t provide for their most basic human need; most are vague about what they eat while they are waiting for meals.

Often their children have moved far away. They don’t vote much or give campaign contributions. They have no lobbyists and few champions in Congress. Politicians generally support the programs, but not many are willing to fight for adequate funding.

Yet something so simple as an attractive, well-balanced meal changes their lives.

Irene Christie’s voice rises when she talks of her meals. After waiting so long and eating when she could, the baked chicken, scalloped potatoes, peas, fruit and a slice of bread with a big pat of butter seemed like a feast. “Words cannot tell you how thankful I am,” she said.

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Trudy Lieberman can be reached by e-mail at trudyal530@aol.com. Health Matters appears on the third Monday of the month.