Meals on Wheels program under pressure

ANDREW HARP

ANDREW.HARP@NEWSANDTRIBUNE.COM

SOUTHERN INDIANA — The Meals on Wheels program in the Southern Indiana area continues to be put under strain due to funding cuts.

LifeSpan Resources is the state-designated agency serving Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Scott counties through their Meals on Wheels program, Meals to Go!

Last yea r, LifeSpan announced the loss of its Medicaid Waiver case management program for the aged and disabled.

Lucy Koesters, chief business development officer, said that 15 agencies in the state ran this waiver case management program for at least 20 years.

“That program was an absolute godsend for so many people in Southern Indiana,” she said.

She said that it allowed local case managers to put together person-centered care plans for elderly and disabled individuals in the community that were still living at home.

“The waiver was a way that they could get in-home services and not have to relocate to a nursing facility,” she said.

At one point, Koesters said that 40 case managers were managing about 3,000 clients in the service area.

Koesters said that the program was run so efficiently, that the revenue from that program helped sustain their other programs, including Meals to Go!

According to a news release from LifeSpan, they currently serve around 140 homebound seniors across their service area through the meal program. Each client receives an average of 28 meals per month, or about one meal per day. This is about 4,000 meals delivered monthly, costing around $24,000 per month.

Last year, the area agencies model transitioned to the managed care entities model to where clients were transitioned out of their care management to three health insurance companies.

Koesters said they contracted with two of these health insurance companies for several months, but then the state reneged on their agreement to have the managed care entities contract with them for two years.

As a result, she said, they are no longer managing more than 2,000 of their clients as of July last year.

She said they still have one waiver left for those who are under 60 years old and have a disability, called the health and wellness waiver. She said they have 800 clients under that waiver.

However, the state has now also sent out a request for proposal to bid out this waiver, along with a few other waivers, as well. Koesters said they did bid on it, although they do not feel confident they will be able to retain it.

“It’s really kind of tragic,” she said.

She said as a result of the budget cuts, they have had to implement a waitlist to the Meals on Wheels program for the first time in eight years. She also said they are assessing their clients to see if they could maybe take a reduction of meals.

However, area organization like Dare to Care, Let Us Learn led by Chef Gina Brown and a local elementary school’s “Kindness Club” have been providing support.

Koesters said that they are scrambling for funding in order to finish out the federal fiscal year, which ends in September.

LifeSpan also, every year, holds a gala event in order to raise money for the program, although it won’t be held until November.

“We’ve written more grants in the last two years than I think I’ve seen in my almost 15 years here,” she said.

Koesters said that they have made a commitment to their clients to not take them off of the program for as long as they need it.

“We’re just kind of at this critical juncture right now, and we’re very nervous about it,” she said. Koesters said one client in New Albany, John Greenman, 85, has been using their program since 2018. He’s legally blind, lives alone and he came to them when a friend of his suggested he look into it.

“I’m very fortunate,” Greenman said in a press release. “The staff at LifeSpan Resources is diligent and knowledgeable. The in-home care helps me with food, housekeeping and even managing my bills.”

LifeSpan is urging individuals and organizations to support the program by either either donating in person at 33 State Street, third floor, in New Albany, or online at www.lsr14.org.

New Albany resident John Greenman receives his Meals on Wheels box.

Submitted photos

LifeSpan Resource’s Meals on Wheels program, called Meals to Go!, has been affected due to state and federal budget cuts.