Meals On Wheels driver shortage creates waiting list for meals on Cape, Islands

The Meals on Wheels program for Cape Cod and the Islands is facing a crisis for the first time in a very long while.

In the more than 50 years that Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands has been delivering meals to seniors it is just the second time that people wanting meals have been put on a waiting list.

“It has happened in the past but it was many years ago. Long before I was here,” said Lou Eppers, Elder Services nutrition director, who has been with the organization for 16 years.

Eppers reported that the shortage of drivers was actually about 20 years ago.

Meals on Wheels operates Mondays through Fridays, delivering a full meal to older individuals and others who cannot prepare their own food. The nonprofit, based in South Dennis, also serves meals at some senior centers.

How severe is the driver shortage?

The recent waiting list started in Barnstable and has since expanded to Yarmouth and then Mashpee, Falmouth and Bourne, said Tracy Diggs, a home care supervisor at Elder Services.

“There has been an overall increase in the need for food and security, especially for the elderly, many of whom are on fixed incomes,” Diggs said.

Currently there are 24 people on the Cape Cod waiting list, 17 just from Barnstable.

Elder Services provides Meals On Wheels services to people via three programs: the basic Meals on Wheels program, in which anyone over the age of 60 is eligible, the Home Care program and the Senior Care Options program, where Meals On Wheels may be one of the additional services provided.

How many drivers are needed?

At this time, Barnstable County, Eppers said, has 77 drivers who go out on a daily basis. In Barnstable alone, the program needs from 25 to 30 more drivers, said Eppers. The towns of Bourne and Mashpee need about 15 more each and Yarmouth needs an additional five.

“There has been a huge increase in need and it keeps going up, so there is a great need for drivers,” said Diggs.

Meals On Wheels serves somewhere around 6,100 meals a week on Cape Cod to 1,509 consumers. That’s not counting the 53 consumers on Nantucket and the 206 on Martha’s Vineyard.

In addition, the shortage of drivers has created stress on the existing helpers.

“We need to start splitting up the routes,” said Diggs. There should be no more than 25 consumers on one driver's list but some drivers have more than 40, she said.

Eppers said that 20 consumers on a route is the desired number and 25 is the maximum to provide the quality of services that the Meals On Wheels program aspires to.

In addition to delivering the meals, the drivers also do wellness checks and provide socialization for those people who are confined, for the most part, to their homes and are somewhat isolated from their communities.

Having longer routes, or more people on the routes, “cuts down time for that,” said Eppers.

What the drivers signed up for was one and a half, maybe two hours a day. "With the longer routes there is a greater time commitment,” said Eppers.

Why is there a shortage of drivers?

Most volunteer drivers are older people, retirees themselves, and from time to time they age out and the numbers are depleted, Diggs explained.

“And people are working longer. They’re not retiring,” said Diggs, which cuts down the number of volunteers that may be available.

There are some younger people who volunteer.

“There are different groups who help. The Rotary in Hyannis sends different people to drive,” Diggs said.

But that has not been enough.

Recently, the organization went to a Home and Flower show and set up a volunteer booth. They are sending out appeals on social media. They’ve sent out flyers to stores, post offices, and made appeals to churches and synagogues “to try to get the word out as much as we can,” said Eppers.

The organization also has sent out appeals for help through a message delivery system, which goes to all volunteers in all departments with the hope that the message will be spread by word of mouth as well.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Meals On Wheels driver shortage creates waiting list for meals on Cape, Islands