Millions of Americans will make a visit to Mom in the next week. While visiting, be alert to a growing problem among the elderly. Millions are going hungry each day for a variety of reasons, be they financial, emotional or physical. No senior ever need go hungry.

Many seniors will never volunteer that they are in need of meal assistance, and some that do need it are quite sure that they don’t. In most cases, it’s up to their adult children to make this determination and this often comes after visiting the folks and finding that they are having trouble. Holiday visits present prime time so we suggest that if you are visiting your folks in the next couple of days, take a look around to see what kinds of needs they have. And if they are having troubles, take action right away. Some meal programs can fit them in immediately. But in other cases, there can be a waiting list.

Signs to look for:

1. Check out the refrigerator, cupboards and the freezer. If there are not signs that they’ve been making food lately, this can be your first clue. If food in the refrigerator is beyond the stamped dates, is moldy, or looks dried out, you probably have a big problem.

2. Take a quick look in the garbage cans to see if there are any food remains or food containers. If there are none and it has been several days since the trash pickup, you need to consider whether there has been any food prepared.

3. Talk to your family member. Do they seem coherent and in generally good spirits? There are many other factors that cause these kinds of problems, but they can also be signs of poor nutrition. Make conversation about diet and ask what kinds of things they’ve cooked for themselves recently. If they have problems with mobility, find out how they’ve been getting to the store. It only makes sense that if you cannot get out to get food, you cannot prepare it.

4. Look at clothing and try to determine what their laundry and personal hygiene habits are like. If they are wearing clothes with stains, don’t change clothes daily or are otherwise not taking care of themselves, you might assume that they are also not maintaining proper nutrition.

Look at their overall appearance and listen very carefully to what they say. Bad nutrition can start to show up on in a senior’s appearance very quickly. Odd skin color, tired appearance, sleeping a lot, slow memory, and a general malaise can be signs of physical problems.

One thing that you must understand about some seniors who aren’t eating well is that they may not want anyone else to know it. Or they might not realize it themselves if there are memory issues. Talk and listen, but also use your eyes and common sense.

Tags: care for elderly at home, Care Giving, elder abuse, meals on wheels, Nutrition

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.