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Seniors could go hungry if program isn't renewed

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When Ina Wells' glaucoma began getting worse, she knew she wouldn't be able to see well enough to prepare all her meals.

"I'm almost blind now, so I got to where I didn't think I could fix three meals a day," she said. "I manage fixing my breakfast, and I don't know how long I'll be able to do that."

Wells, 86, lives alone in a Beaufort apartment complex. Since she can't drive, she applied for a home-

delivered meals program last year. Now, volunteers or staffers of Senior Services of Beaufort County deliver a hot lunch every weekday, tailored to her specific dietary needs.

For some seniors, a daily meal is the difference between independence and assisted living. The programs require participants be homebound and unable to fully care for themselves.

But if Gov. Mark Sanford's proposed budget wins approval, it won't include the $2.9 million that last year allowed 5,476 needy seniors across the state to get hot meals delivered daily. Currently the House has approved the money, and the Senate is expected soon to vote on the proposal.

While the money was a one-time payment last year, and it's included as a one-time payment in the current House's appropriations, elderly advocates are asking that it become permanent.

Part of that money funded about 22 percent of home-delivered meals in Beaufort County last year. Without it, about 40 seniors will lose their daily meals.

The meals program is part of a larger county effort that also provides light housekeeping and respite care for some seniors.

"We try to do as much as we can to keep people at home for as long as they can," said Jannette Williams, executive director of Senior Services of Beaufort County. "... If they didn't have anyone, they would have to go into a long-term care facility prematurely."

In all, about 270 Beaufort County seniors use volunteer or state-funded meal programs as their source for daily nutrition and brief companionship. About 25 more are on waiting lists.

If those services are cut, they will have to find another program. But volunteer agencies are short on resources and have waiting lists of their own. The Meals on Wheels program south of the Broad River doesn't have a wait list, but it can't travel 25 miles beyond its food preparation site.

On occasion, the Jasper County home-delivered meals program has helped serve some Okatie residents. But that program is facing the same cuts. It serves 126 people. Twenty more are on a waiting list. Without state funding,

it will stop deliveries to 48 seniors.

"In a rural county like Jasper, some of these folks are just literally destitute," said Carl Roache, executive director of the Jasper County Council on Aging. "I will be distressed if we are not able to coerce legislators to continue the

funding."

Sen. Catherine Ceips of Beaufort said she has received several letters from Hilton Head Island residents asking for her support for the program. She says it delivers much more than food.

"It's a check for these people," Ceips said. "If they don't answer that door, they might have fallen or injured themselves. It enables them to stay at home."

Curtis M. Loftis Jr., director of the S.C. Office on Aging, says the funding for the program is set to expire June 30. The House has added money for the program, but as a supplemental expense. That means it will be put on a list of other projects approved for one-time funding, and there could be a gap between when the current funding ends and the newly appropriated money arrives. He hopes the program will be approved for permanent funding.

"We are hopeful the Senate will realize how important this is," Loftis said.

For Ina Wells, the program helps her retain her independence, something she fears losing. Her eyesight grows worse every day and she suffers from constant kidney infections. Her family wants her to move in with them, but Wells said she's trying hard not to.

"Because they can feel sorry for me and I'll cry," she said, "they try not to feel sorry. My son laughs now instead of crying, and that makes me

unhappy, too."

No matter what the state decides, Wells said she'll find a way to manage. She's still able to get around, and often helps out a neighbor by collecting her meal when she's away and bringing it to her when she comes home.

"She's independent just like me, and hard-headed," Wells said. "I still get around pretty well for an old lady that can't see."

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