Rising gas prices recently cast light on an already serious problem that’s only getting worse. Expensive gas is hurting everyone, but especially frail older adults and their caregivers. A haunting call reaches through the Internet: “We are retired. Can’t get our drugs. No gas for our car. No money for food. Doctors won’t see us.” Larry Roppel’s email posted at CNN.com continues with a plea: “What can we do?” Another man from Mississippi writes, “My physicians are more than 100 miles from my home. I have many illnesses and I’m not able to pay for the gas to get the medical treatment I need.” Chilling emails like these call our attention to the root of the problem: expensive gasoline.
The Urban Institute recently published a “Profile of Frail Older Americans and Their Caregivers” that frames this gas price problem. “Given the scarcity of public financing for home-based care, about three-quarters of frail older people receiving assistance rely exclusively on unpaid caregivers.” These gracious, unpaid caregivers are feeling the pain of high gas prices, not once, for their own transportation, but twice. The burden doubles. The publication defines a “frail older adult” as someone that has “difficulty with at least one personal care activity” such as bathing, dressing or shopping for groceries. Frail older adults who still live alone, not in nursing homes, depend on caregivers. Caregivers need gas.
How many caregivers are there? The Urban Institute reports that 8.7 million people over the age of 65 had a disability in 2002 that limited “their ability to perform basic personal activities or live independently.” Often, family caregivers do the necessary driving. About 62 percent of frail older adults have one child living within 10 miles. So, who pays for the gas? “In 2001, the median income for older people with severe disabilities living at home was only $14,160.” These people are not getting richer, and rhe gas is not getting cheaper. Sometimes a family member is not available. About 61 percent of the time, paid help or volunteers do the caregiving. These caregivers need gas too.
The plot thickens. Cash-strapped family caregivers looking for transportation help might not find it. Costs are quickly rising, volunteers are quietly quitting, and more older adults are left stranded at home. Donna Harvey, President of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, explains the problem during a Senate hearing on the “Impact of Energy Prices on the Aging.” She starts by pointing out, “the dramatic rise in gasoline prices has escalated to the point that they are having an impact on older adults’ ability to maintain their health, mobility and independence.” She further explains that 30% of seniors 65+ are classified as low-income. She continues, “Rising gasoline prices can mean making tough choices between maintaining mobility and meeting necessities of life.” This impacts the transportation and nutrition programs that her represented agencies deliver to 8 million older Americans. One fourth of these agencies have had to decrease transportation services. “Many of our volunteers have requested an increase (per mile reimbursement) to cover their rising fuel expenses.”

Less Help, More Need

Caregiving employees and volunteers are looking for shortcuts. Internet AARP profiles of “Services for Older Americans Hurt by Rising Gas Prices” acknowledge the gas problem. Homecare Solutions Unlimited in South Carolina confirms it: “We have lost some employees who just were not willing to travel any longer to several different clients in one day.” Another service profiled, Generations Incorporated, covers about 13,800 miles per month in Polk County, Iowa. Director Maribel Slinde reveals, “Our paid staff members use their personal vehicles to deliver meals to clients on their individual routes. Several have expressed concerns about their ability to continue to drive their routes.” The drivers are reimbursed 34 cents a mile, but this is “becoming inadequate to meet their actual costs.”
Serita Lacasse is the Executive Director of Faith in Action Caregivers in Pflugerville, Texas. Asked by email if she is losing volunteer drivers, she says: “We are losing volunteers lately.” Some volunteers are limiting their distance to save gas. Lacasse explains that volunteers are slow to admit they can’t afford more gas. Instead, they say, “I need to limit the amount of drives I make.” Another AARP bulletin (“Running on Empty” by Susan Q. Stranahan) tells the same story. Charlyn Ocker runs Meals for the Elderly in San Angelo, Texas. She’s lost 80 volunteer drivers so far. Ocker reasons, “They can no longer afford the gas it takes to deliver meals, and are too proud to admit it.”
With more family caregivers scrounging for gas money, more older adults need transportation help, further exacerbating the volunteer shortage problem. Lacasse comments on this: “We have had a significant increase in clients. More clients are requesting services, because their family or friends are unable to take them any longer.” Adding fuel to the fire, America is aging. According to the Administration on Aging, “by 2030, there will be about 71.5 million older persons, more than twice their number in 2000.” The Urban Institute further suggests that, in the near future, these older people could get even less care. “The availability of family caregivers may also decline over time, because of rising divorce rates, increasing childlessness, declining family sizes, and rising employment rates of married women.”
Worst of all, gas prices hit caregivers hardest in rural areas. Rural areas hold a quarter of the US population. A recent Christian Science Monitor report on gas budgets says that rural drivers spend 50% more than urban drivers. Additionally, the National Rural Health Association says that rural areas have proportionately fewer doctors and more people over the age of 65. Rural caregivers are spending more on gas, yet (on average) have $7000 less yearly income. And, at this stage in life, leaving old friends and family behind for a more urban lifestyle is hardly an option.
What can be done? Will caregivers come up with the gas money? Some caregivers are saving gas money by switching from daily delivered meals to weekly delivered frozen meals. Serita Lacasse shares that Pflugerville Caregivers is trying to “double up” rides. This would be one volunteer driving “two or more clients going in the same area.” She also mentions, “We are researching and looking to obtain assistance from gas companies, ExxonMobil and Texaco, to see about a grant program.”
Access to affordable transportation definitely determines the quality of a person’s life. A national AARP telephone survey revealed that, “Americans 50+ reporting a yearly household income under $25,000 are significantly more likely than those of higher income to say they have limited or done without telecommunications, food, medical services, or prescription drugs because of the soaring gasoline prices.” High gas prices are leaving more people stranded at home too. Even if the most important trips are taken care of, losing daily contact presents its own problems. Unaffordable gas means more solitude and neglect for many people. As it is, caregivers are doing their best. Let us hope that is good enough.