THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607050169
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 101 lines
Shortly before noon every Tuesday and Friday, Maye and Bob Martens leave their two-bedroom apartment in the Pembroke section of Virginia Beach, and drive about 20 miles just to eat lunch.
Maye, 79, navigates the Expressway with Bob, 82, in the passenger seat.
Their destination: the Norfolk Senior Center in Ghent, where the Martenses and a few dozen companions over age 60 dine together. The menu is nutritious and varied: meatloaf, veal or perhaps baked chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, low-fat milk, a soft white roll, fruit cup, and maybe a cookie for dessert.
But the best part of the meal, the Martenses say, is companionship.
``It's just like family here,'' said Maye, better known as ``Maysie'' among the circle of friends who share lunch and a ceramics class that follows. ``If I'm not here,'' Maysie says, ``I miss them.''
Serving friendship as well as food is a program goal because elderly people who eat alone tend to dine on less healthy fare, says Sidney Brown, nutrition coordinator for the Southeastern Virginia Area-wide Model Program, or SEVAMP, which arranges the meals for elderly people.
That was one key finding of a recent survey by the agency. It was designed to help spot warning signs of poor eating habits. The survey was sent to 600 program participants, and about 400 people answered it.
In all, 30 percent of respondents scored 6 or above, indicating a high risk for malnutrition on the 10-item survey checklist.
For some, solitude may be part of the problem. Fifty-three percent of survey respondents said they live and eat alone.
People who are isolated are less likely buy groceries or cook for themselves and are more likely to skip meals or eat high-fat, high-sodium convenience foods or snacks, says Bettye Nowlin a registered dietitian in Calabasas, Calif., and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
The survey list was created by the Nutrition Screening Initiative - a collaboration of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Dietetic Association and the National Council on Aging - to help keep senior citizens healthy, and out of hospitals and nursing homes.
The national group, formed about five years ago, encourages screening among the nation's elderly, says Alice Coleman, education coordinator for the Initiative.
Studies have shown that 85 percent of people over 65 suffer at least one chronic disease that could benefit from nutrition intervention, Coleman says.
``Nutrition care,'' Coleman says, ``is low-tech, low-cost, and it prevents a lot of problems.'''
This year, the federal government requires all agencies on aging to survey its participants. SEVAMP sent out the checklists last year, Brown said, to get an early reading and to provide intervention where it's needed.
SEVAMP already reaches many elderly. Last year, it served 184,925 lunches to nearly 4,900 senior citizens, and delivered 121,125 midday meals delivered to nearly 780 older people confined to their homes.
The results from SEVAMP's survey, tallied last week, showed:
Thirty-five percent of respondents said they have medical conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension or heart disease, which limit their choice of foods.
That may lead some of them to choose the same foods over and over, Nowlin says, leaving out important nutrients.
More than one third take multiple medications daily, which may lessen appetite or sense of taste. Some older people may respond by skipping meals or heavily salting their food, Nowlin said.
More than a quarter of respondents said they don't think they eat enough fruits and vegetables, and almost 20 percent said they don't have enough money to buy the food they need.
Brown said SEVAMP's results cannot be used as an indicator of the nutritional habits of Hampton Roads' more than 126,000 senior citizens. But she said it shows that its congregate program - available at 24 sites to anyone over 60 and their spouses - is reaching many who need it most.
And because people over 85 are the fastest-growing age group in the country, Brown said, SEVAMP likely will see more people who otherwise might eat alone, eat poorly or not eat at all.
``Part of our purpose,'' she said,``is bringing people out of isolation and into socialization.'' MEMO: For more information on congregate meals or home delivery for
people over 60, call SEVAMP at 461-9481. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CANDICE C. CUSIC/The Virginian-Pilot
Beach residents Maysie Martens, 79, and her husband, Bob, 82, dine
twice a week at the Norfolk Senior Center, where companionship is
even more important than the meals. The SEVAMP agency says elderly
people who eat alone choose less-healthy food - and 30 percent in a
survey are at risk for malnutrition.
Graphic
WHO ARE THE ELDERLY?
In 1994, 33.2 million people 65 and older were living in the
United States, up from 3.1 million in 1990.
Nationally, 3.7 million elderly people were below the poverty
level in 1994. Older women had a higher poverty rate than older men.
More than half of older black women who lived alone were poor.
Virginia had 725,000 people 65 and older in 1994, a 9.6 percent
increase from 1990. Of those, 14.1 percent lived below the poverty
level.
In Hampton Roads, the 1990 census reported there were 126,115
people 60 and older; of those, 33,781 people were over 75.
By 2030, there will be 70 million senior citizens in the U.S.
Sources: The Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, the Southeastern Virginia Area-wide Model
Program. by CNB