Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs(ES)

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Lloyd, J. L. & Wellman, N. S. (2015). Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs: a community-based             nutrition program helping older adults remain at home.  Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and   Geriatrics, 34(2), 90-109.

                This article speaks to the foundations of the Older Americans Act in 1965 and the development of the act from then until now. It demonstrates the need for the nutrition related aspects of the bill in that food insecure adults are 50% more likely to have diabetes, 14% more likely to be hypertensive, 60% more likely to have congestive heart failure or a heart attack, twice as likely to report fair/poor general health, three times more likely to suffer depression, and twice as likely to report gum disease and asthma.

                I think people generally have a misconception of nursing home or long term care facilities. There is such a large gap between retirement communities (what I thought long term care facilities were) and these skilled care facilities. Anything that we can do as a nation to keep the elderly at home as long as possible it beneficial, not only from a quality of life standpoint, but from a financial standpoint. The cost for home meals is nowhere near the amount spent on healthcare for our baby boomer population that is overpopulating the geriatric demographic.

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