A report last week on state and federal funding cuts for services assisting the state’s rising population of senior citizens reveals at least two things: 1. More volunteers are needed to help provide services to older citizens. 2. Some of those extra volunteers may be tuckered out after helping seniors to the polls on Nov. 4.
During a Sept. 12 panel discussion at East Carolina University on aging and adult services, it was revealed that the state is facing a nearly $1 million reduction in Home and Community Block Grant funding for the Division of Aging and Adult Services.
That means less money for connecting seniors and their caregivers to resources and support services such as Meals on Wheels, in-home visits, help with errands and general transportation, the Seniors Health Insurance Information Program and nutritional supplement programs.
For the Area Agencies on Aging division that includes Pitt, Beaufort, Bertie, Hertford and Martin counties, the funding cut amounts to nearly $39,000. That may not sound like a huge amount for such a large area, but its impact is compounded by the fast population growth among seniors.
According to the Administration on Aging, Americans 65 or older numbered 39.6 million in 2009, the latest year for which such data is available. By 2030, the AOA projects there will be about 72.1 million seniors.
To go along with the population growth, more seniors are choosing to live at home, which is putting a strain on the very in-home services affected by these funding cuts.
North Carolina is now ranked ninth in the nation for the number of residents 65 and older. Officials with the Area Agencies on Aging project that for the next two decades, 75-84 will be the state’s fastest-growing age group.
Right now, 29 percent of residents in that age group live alone and 38 percent have a disability. Those numbers are going up, as is the number of seniors on waiting lists for adult in-home services.
At a time when funding for services is being cut, 519 people in the five-county AAA region are on waiting lists for services, including 356 in Pitt County. Cutting funding in the face of such clear need for additional resources makes no sense.
“Waiting lists to receive many of our services show that we don’t have enough funding to take care of the needs we have now,” said Diane Skalko, executive director of Pitt county Council on Aging. “We will need much more over the next 20 years.”
Another statistic state and federal lawmakers would be wise to consider: More than 75 percent of Americans age 55 and older are registered to vote — the highest percentage of any voter demographic.
