SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It’s part of the morning 91-year-old Catherine Coleman looks forward to each day.
“Shrimp fajitas, oh, that sounds good,” Coleman said.
The mother of eight receives five meals a week delivered by Meals on Wheels volunteers like Roy Jones and created by nutritionist Krystal Sharpnack.
Meals Coleman considers very important.
“That’s what keeps us healthy,” Coleman said, looking at Sharpnack. “Because you plan them so well. I love the bits of chicken and things that are in there. They’re very nutritious.”
The importance of services like Meals on Wheels for older adults is highlighted by recent data from the California Department of Health. The report shows deaths from malnutrition more than doubled from 2018 to 2022, going from 650 deaths to 1,400, with the large majority of those deaths occurring in people 85 and older.
A statistic that doesn’t surprise Sharpnack.
“It does make sense that when something so severe as the pandemic shut down a lot of access to resources, to family members, that are there and available to them,” she said.
The access to various centers and programs, as well as encouragement from health officials to limit contact during the pandemic, experts said, are contributing factors.
But data shows even after the lockdowns eased in 2022, malnutrition deaths rose.
“The fact is that the elderly population is increasingly growing, set to outnumber children for the first time in history,” Sharpneck said. “You know, right around 2030 or so.”
Among the state’s biggest counties, Sacramento had the highest rate of malnutrition deaths.
Data also shows rural or semirural counties had the highest overall death rates from malnutrition among older Californians.
Jones said many of the people on his route may not have family close by or at all or realize that something might be a little off with their health, another reason his visits are important.
“You get to know their habits and if something is not quite right, you can pick that up,” Jones said. “And we have certain places we can contact if we think something is not quite right.”
The cost of living is also a factor for many elderly people.
Coleman said for her, it’s been a factor since her husband died three years ago.
“I’m on social security now since my husband passed away,” Coleman said. “I did get some [money] when he died, but you know that goes fast, but the house is all paid for, so that’s a great blessing.”
A blessing Coleman said she’s thankful for, along with her children and her Meals on Wheels.