SURGE AMONG SENIORS
pandemic-specic practices relating to federal benets in early 2023. For example, those receiving Med- icaid benets or assistance with pay- ing Medicare premiums have not had to renew those benets since 2020. Continuous Medicaid cover- age ended March 31, according to Texas Health and Human Services. THHS has started a campaign to ensure seniors are aware of this, and AAA is elding many local calls on the matter, Freitag Hejja said. “Right now, Texas Health and Human Services is sending people who are on benets a yellow envelope that says action required,” she said in a March 24 interview. “They’re really at risk of losing [them] and having to reapply. So … our benets counselors are doing some outreach campaigns.” Many seniors who depend on Sup- plemental Nutrition Assistance Plan benets found their monthly allot- ments cut to prepandemic levels as of March 1, adding to the strain on resources, according to Freitag Hejja. “Our seniors, if they were on SNAP, they were getting the maxi- mum amount; it was around $281 a month,” Freitag Hejja said. “[Now] if they are living alone, and they have low incomes, it’s $23 a month on top of food costs.” In addition to MOWMC, the Mont- gomery Food Bank and Keep Us Fed Montgomery County provide nutri- tion options for seniors. The food bank reported an increase from serv- ing 830,000 meals per month in 2021 to 1 million per month in 2022, and Keep Us Fed reported it hit a mile- stone of 6 million pounds of food dis- tributed since 2015 in March. Day said these services pro- vide more for seniors than meals, and MOWMC also provided needed socialization. “It’s a very holistic approach for caring for seniors; it’s more than a meal. We arrive and become their family and their rst resource when they need something,” Day said. Filling the gap To help provide for the aging pop- ulation, several measures are under- way across the county and state. At the local level, on March 28, Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved raising the home- stead exemption for residents age 65 and older who already have an exemption from $35,000 to $50,000. This follows other area governmen- tal bodies such as The Woodlands, which raised the exemption for
The senior population of all seven ZIP codes in The Woodlands area has increased since 2016.
POPULATION 60 AND OVER
KEY:
2,903
2016: 15.9% of the population is 60 and over
60 to 64 years 65 to 74 years 75 to 84 years 85 years and over
12,203
13,916
6,056
2021: 17.1% of the population is 60 and over 13,610
3,120
19,556
7,986
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY 5YEAR STATISTICS COMMUNITY IMPACT
Demand for the rideshare service for seniors oered by Meals on Wheels doubled in south Montgomery County from 2018 to 2023. TRANSPORTATION NEEDS
MOWMC Director Summer Day. “We’ve ... had clients that are medically compromised and can’t get to help, and we realize they’re not answering the door and we will call the hospital district for a welfare check,” Day said. “So, it’s also an extra layer of protection for the seniors.” Sandy Gorczynsk, who lost her leg in 2020, said she relies on the service for transportation. “It’s been wonderful,” she said. “I get out of my apartment. If I didn’t come get on the bus, I would proba- bly go crazy at home.”
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With a larger senior population facing increasing needs, more people may begin to depend on resources available in their communities to maintain a qual- ity of life, according to organizations such as Harris-Galveston Area Council’s Area Agency on Aging, or AAA. Mean- while, in February, Meals on Wheels Montgomery County, or MOWMC, saw demand for services such as senior transportation more than double in the southern part of the county compared to ve years ago, and it provided a record number of rides in March, according to the nonprot. “The population of older adults is going to grow as the baby boomers get older. So, it’s something that we’ve known for a long time, but still, we can be limited on the resources available,” said Mallory Freitag Hejja, administra- tor of the H GAC Area Agency on Aging. Transportation needs A growing need for transportation resources among seniors can be seen in increasing requests for those services. Shenandoah Mayor John Escoto said the city provides $5,000 annually to the MOWMC transportation program to get seniors to appointments and other needs. “One issue that came up from some residents and relatives was trans- portation back and forth, when chil- dren weren’t able to transport them,” Escoto said. In February, MOWMC reports the service provided 1,737 rides within the county, an increase from 1,362 in Febru- ary 2018. That increase was the highest in south Montgomery County, which more than doubled from 416 to 954, according to MOWMC. It increased to an all-time high of 1,028 in south Mont- gomery County in March. The growth in seniors has started to make the organization focus on more ways to serve seniors who are without family to provide care, according to
Number of rides
South Montgomery County Remainder of Montgomery County
416 946
954 783
Feb. 2018:
Feb. 2023:
Total: 1,737
Total: 1,362
2018: 2022:
16,960 total rides 17,380 total rides
ONE OF OUR MOST CRITICAL UNMET NEEDS IS TRANSPORTATION ACROSS COUNTY LINES. MARIA GARZA, AREA AGENCY ON AGING PROGRAM COORDINATOR
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY MEALS ON WHEELS
However, other transportation challenges remain. Although The Woodlands area has access to sev- eral medical centers and hospitals, many seniors have appointments in downtown Houston, and MOWMC only operates within Montgomery County, according to Maria Garza, program coordinator for the AAA’s Conroe oce, which serves Mont- gomery County. AAA receives calls through the 211 hotline operated by United Way Greater Houston. “We are having a high volume of calls for the Montgomery County area regarding transportation,” Garza said. “One of our most criti- cal unmet needs is transportation across county lines.” End to pandemic-era benets Two other areas of immedi- ate concern for agencies serving seniors are the cessation of several
Seniors receive rides to appointments. (Jessica Shorten/Community Impact)
CALLS FOR SERVICE
After peaking in 2020, calls to the 211 hotline operated by the United Way grew from 2021-22 in The Woodlands area in Montgomery County. Calls to 211 from age 60+ residents
Calls from individuals 60 and older are referred to the Area Agency on Aging.
39,533
22,800
21,113
2021
2020
2022
SOURCE: TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION COMMUNITY IMPACT
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