An Examination of the Potential of REACH's Convenience Meal Program

During 2014/2015 we served 354,170 meals, including 330,735 hot lunches, to our homebound neighbors. The remaining meals provided either a lunch or breakfast bag to help our most vulnerable clients. Recognizing that seniors in our state are disproportionally susceptible to going hungry, we are making every effort to combat food insecurity by providing more quality and nutritious foods.

The challenge America now faces is the number of people reaching retirement will double in number by 2030, and the U.S. population will increase almost 20 percent ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). The goal is for the elderly to maintain and live with independence and dignity, as well as, provide a wide range of professional health and social service expertise, home care, and residential support and services that will be needed ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). Since the number of caregivers needed for this population will not be able to meet the demands other resolutions are considered necessary.

In addition, Community Care Services provides much needed monitoring and support service to ensure the older person is able to live in their own home. They cover everything from community nursing, meals, domestic help, personal care, home modifications, transport and day therapies and support for people with cultural and identifiable needs, as well as for people with particular health conditions. For example, meals on wheels services provide a nutritional food, Vital Call service to help the aged people in an emergency case. Some of the ways may support the older people are get assistance with “home help”,

Taking care of the individuals that are getting older takes many different needs. Most of these needs cannot be given from the help of a family. This causes the need of having to put your love one into a home and causing for the worry of how they will be treated. It is important for the family and also the soon to be client to feel at home in their new environment. This has been an issue with the care being provided for each individual, which has lead to the need of making sure individuals have their own health care plan.

Considering the following statistics, it is clear why Hunger Free Colorado’s work is so important: Nearly 1 in 7 Coloradans struggled with hunger in 2013, facing times when there was not enough money to buy food for their families or themselves (Colman-Jenson, Gregory, & Singh, 2013). More than 1 in 5 Colorado households with children (22%) reported food hardship, facing financial challenges to put food on the table (Food Research and Action Center, 2013). More than 1 in 8 Coloradans lived in poverty, including 1 in 6 kids, during 2013 (Bishaw & Fontenot, 2014).

Hunger has been a prevalent issue in both established communities and struggling nations around the globe. It seems that there has never been a time when every person on the planet was food secure, and while it is typically assumed that hunger is an issue only in developing nations, malnutrition and hunger are concerns even in the United States. Millions of children across the country live in homes where food is scarce and meals are skipped on a regular basis. Because research supports the connection between nutrition, good health, and cognitive ability, it is critical that methods of addressing food shortages for minor children be found. One solution, the School Breakfast Program, seeks to provide healthy breakfast meals for children

I have identified the aging population (greater than 55 years of age) in Chatham/Kent, Ontario (in a community I am familiar and work within); a population on the rise and with minimal government and Ministry of Health support that enables seniors to maintain quality of life,

Our elderly population is living longer than ever before and not all of them are entering into a nursing home. They are choosing to stay in their own home or their caregiver is choosing it for them. Some caregivers are choosing to move their ageing love one in the home with them. Whatever the case may be, there is an increased need for some type of home health as it applies to the elderly population. “Medicare will pay the full cost of professional help only if the physician

The “Cooking Matter” program will be responsible for three interventions to help alleviate child hunger by recruiting college student participants. (See appendix J for group work VII on intervention development). The first intervention was “Read It before You Eat It!” this intervention will demonstrate the correct way to read nutrition and food labels. Each participant will examine the actual food packaging labels of different food items such as whole wheat pasta, regular pasta, bread, cheese, and

In the fiscal year 2010, (O’Shaughnessy, 2012) only about 5.1%, or 3 million people, out of the 57.8 million people age sixty and over, received services funded by the Act. These services included home delivered meals, home care, personal care, or case management services on a regular or intensive basis. About 14%, 8 million people, received other services, such as transportation, congregate meals, or information and assistance on a not so regular basis. A report was made by the Government Accountability Office stating that their findings were that many older people are in need of meals and other supportive services to help remain independent in their own communities, but a large portion of them are not getting the help they are in need of. Some barriers causing this lack of help are lack of funding and lack of knowledge among the older Americans that they may be eligible for benefits and services can be available for them.

The West Fresno Family Resource Center’s mission is to empower and support the West Fresno Community to Achieve Optimal Health and Well Being.1 This center provides nutrition education and promotion programs for children, teens, adult and senior populations. The West Fresno Family Resource Center (WFRC) fits perfectly the community nutrition definition. It provides nutrition education and promotion to its community members by planning and implementing programs at its center as a way of reducing and preventing nutrition related health problems within its community. Ms. Yolanda Randles is the Executive Director and Ms. Janice Mathurin is the Director of Operations of WFRC. In addition, Ms. Christina Rodriguez is the Diabetes Self-Management Program

For example, I drove around the neighborhood previously looking for healthy food choices at an affordable price. However, I found that around the clinic, there were not many healthy food options in walking distance. For example, Hillen Grocery store, a convenient store that sells snack options is located eleven minutes walking distance from the clinic. Giant food market, which serves more healthier options at a high price range, is located eighteen minutes walking distance from the clinic. Because of this reason, I provided patients at the clinic with alternatives to remedy the problem. Besides teaching them how to replace meals, I also gave them information about virtual supermarkets provided through the program Healthy Baltimore

Canadian Home Care Association, “Home Care 2020: A Vision of Health, Independence & Dignity,” available at

Schools in high-poverty areas with most children in need of free or reduced lunch, tend to do well with these new regulations. However, schools will less kids eligible for free or reduced lunch do not do so well, and a lot of districts in this category have dropped the program. Theory is that schools with more children than not eligible for free or reduced lunch, are more likely to eat what is served to them. “Some of our students show up for breakfast and haven’t had anything to eat since lunch the day before” (Hill). The Executive Director of Nutritional services points out a harsh fact, and the good these lunch programs bring to table.

From 1970 to the year 2000, the world's over-60 population is projected to increase by more than 90 percent" . This is an astonishing number, seeming how the total population was predicted to grow by less than 75 percent . "The most prominent feature of the looming shift in the composition of the working-age population is, of course, its increasing age" . It is hard to say what will happen when suddenly there will be an abundance of older people who are preparing to retire.