DC’s Division of Aging and Community Living is launching a pilot program to help older adults make the right nutritional choices.
As you get older, staying healthy becomes more important.
But especially now that inflation is being felt in grocery stores, it can be difficult to choose between healthier, more expensive foods and less healthy, cheaper alternatives.
On Tuesday, DC’s Department of Aging and Community Living (DACL) will launch a pilot program to help seniors make the right choices.
Gloria Dubiscette, of Columbia Heights, said, “When you go through the food pantry, you’ll find a lot of canned food, but not necessarily something you like.” You can buy whatever you want, which is great.”
That’s the starting point for the program.
DACL Interim Director Jessica Smith said: “They can use those funds to purchase food of their choice at any grocery store in the district.”
One condition associated with card-money funding is that seniors are required to attend a certain number of nutrition classes.
For Anacostia’s Lawrence Byrd, it was a perk rather than a hassle.
“It’s lovely. I think it’s a really good program,” Bird said. “They tell me a lot of good things I can do for my body and help me maintain it so I can live a long life.”
“We assume that people of a certain age are knowledgeable, but not necessarily,” said DuBissette. “Everyone needs to be reminded and updated how they should eat, especially as they age, as nutrition impacts their health.”
The pilot program is open to seniors who meet certain eligibility criteria, such as income and residency requirements. You should also be able to cook and prepare your own food.
“These people are the very people we’ve come to know and love who have built the community,” Smith said. We know the decisions we want to make and we want to give that power back to them and really see how it affects their health and mental health outcomes.
She hopes the program will become popular and can be expanded. It’s too late to sign up this year, but she stressed that there are other forms of help for seniors who need it.
“DACL provides a number of nutritional services,” says Smith. “We provide home delivery meals and have gathering eating places in more than 40 locations throughout the district that feed people. We have partners who provide it.”
“Someone needs our services and now that this program is restricted, we want to be able to connect them to the many nutrition programs we offer across the district.”
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