DADS Access and Intake and the 28 Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) with which it contracts support a
statewide system of nutrition services funded through the Older Americans Act (OAA). These services include congregate meals, home delivered meals, nutrition education, nutrition counseling, and nutrition consultation. Because adequate nutrition is vital to maintaining the health and independence of older persons, nutrition services are the most utilized of services authorized under the OAA. AAA congregate and home-delivered meal services represent the “social model” of preventive services espoused by the OAA. They reflect the vital role of diet in the health and independence of older people by promoting health and well-being. They also assist such people gain access to nutrition and other disease prevention and health promotion services to delay the onset of adverse health conditions resulting from poor nutritional health or sedentary behavior.
Services are provided through subcontractors or vendors, who must comply with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans published by the Secretary of Agriculture and provide to each older participant a meal based on a minimum of 33 1/3 percent of the dietary reference intakes established by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science. Approximately 167 providers across the state deliver these services through the AAA network. The objective of the nutrition services program is to assist recipients in sustaining healthy, independent living. Services include the following: Congregate Meals. A hot or other appropriate meal served to an eligible person in congregate settings, which include nutrition sites, multipurpose senior centers, adult day care facilities, and multigenerational meal sites. Both standard meals and therapeutic meals/liquid supplements may be provided.
Home Delivered Meals. A meal that is hot, cold, frozen, dried, canned, fresh, or a supplemental food (with a satisfactory storage life) provided to people who are assessed as frail and homebound. Meals are delivered to eligible persons in their place of residence. The objective is to reduce food insecurity and help the recipient sustain independent living in a safe and healthful environment. There are two types of home-delivered meals, standard meals and therapeutic meals/liquid supplements.
Nutrition Education. Information provided to older people to promote nutritional well-being and to delay the onset of adverse health conditions resulting from poor nutritional health or sedentary behavior. Nutrition Counseling. Individualized advice or guidance about options and methods for improving their nutritional status, for those who are at nutritional risk because of their health or nutritional history, dietary intake, medication(s) use or chronic illness, Counseling is performed by a health professional in accordance with state law and policy.
Nutrition Consultation. The provision of information related to nutrition by a licensed dietician or other qualified person. Services are to be provided to AAAs or nutrition providers.
Eligibility Requirements. Services are provided to people 60 and older and are targeted to older people
with greatest economic and social need, and at risk for institutional placement, with particular attention to low-income minority older people with limited English proficiency, and older people residing in rural areas. In congregate settings, the spouse of a person 60 or older is eligible for a meal at the meal site. If the nutrition service provided is a home-delivered meal, the older person must be homebound and have difficulty in performing activities of daily living. Family members and/or other caregivers may also receive nutrition services through a home-delivered meal when it is identified as a method of providing respite. Additionally, in accordance with the OAA, a meal may be provided to individuals with disabilities who live at home with an eligible older person. Nutrition services may also be made available to people with disabilities who are not older people but who live in housing occupied primarily by older people at which congregate nutrition services are provided.
Profile. Of those receiving congregate meal nutrition services under the OAA, based on the most current
information available, 3 percent were under the age of 60, 41 percent were 60-74, 39 percent were 75-84, and 17 percent were 85 or older. Forty-nine percent of those participating in congregate meals programs were identified as low-income and 37 percent of those were also identified as minority. A socially active older person may attend a congregate meal site. An older person may attend the congregate meal site alone, with a spouse, or someone with a disability who is under 60 and lives with an older person. In cases in which a congregate nutrition site is in a housing facility occupied primarily by older people, a disabled person under the age of 60 may attend the site and receive a congregate meal.
Of those receiving home-delivered meal nutrition services under the OAA in FY 2006, 8 percent were under the age of 60, 30 percent were 60-74, 36 percent were 75-84, and 26 percent were 85 or older. Forty-nine percent of those served home-delivered meals were identified as minority. Service participants are homebound and typically have difficulty in performing at least two activities of daily living, and are often low income. The household may include only the single older person, a spouse, other older person or caregiver. The older person may have identified nutritional risks, such as a chronic illness, that forces a change in diet, lack of resources to purchase food, conflicts between foods and prescription medications, and issues related to eating alone.
Statutory Authority. Human Resources Code, Chapter 101, §§101.025 and 101.030, and Chapter 161; and Title 42 U.S.C. Chapter 35 Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended.
Statewide Nutrition Services Statistics FY 2008 FY 2009
Number of persons receiving congregate meals 59,688 55,580 Number of congregate meals served 3,557,346 3,583,116 Statewide average cost per congregate meal $4.71 $4.94 Number of persons receiving home delivered meals 38,853 38,922 Number of home-delivered meals served 4,578,940 4,719,005 Statewide average cost per home-delivered meal $4.64 $4.83