Governor Deval Patrick last month proposed a state budget that included a $1.5 million cut to the Elderly Nutrition Program, which provides free or subsidized meals to the elderly through home deliveries and communal meals, such as the lunch at Farnsworth House in Jamaica Plain earlier this week.
The proposed cutbacks have drawn ire from state advocates for the elderly, who say that reducing meal services to senior citizens - especially communal meals, the most likely to be eliminated - will cause long-term health problems for seniors.
But in announcing his budget proposal, Patrick said the state remains short of cash, forcing stiff cuts in services, and that his funding priorities were education and infrastructure. Officials said that the proposed meals cuts, a 24 percent reduction that could mean 240,000 fewer lunches statewide next year, are meant only for seniors who have other options, and that they preserve services for the most needy.
“We have had to make some very difficult decisions,’’ said Ann Hartstein, secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, in a statement this week. “In developing this budget, our highest priority was to preserve services for our most vulnerable seniors with urgent care needs - including meal deliveries to homebound seniors and medical services from MassHealth.’’
While the Elderly Nutrition Program also receives about $15.2 million this year from the federal government, the state’s cut would be a major blow to the program, lauded for providing nutritional and psychological benefits to elderly people who can no longer cook for themselves.
“Frankly, the cuts are shortsighted and cold-hearted,’’ said Deborah Banda, AARP Massachusetts state director. “If these elders don’t get the proper nutrition, their health is going to suffer, and their medical care is going to cost much more than these meals.’’
