AN EMPTY BELLY

Leona Miller, 94, gets a hot lunch delivered from LifeCare Alliance’s Meals-on-Wheels to her Hilltop home four days a week.

Leona Miller generally has toast and coffee for breakfast, and maybe a Wendy’s chili or some soup for dinner. And four days a week, she receives a hot lunch delivery from LifeCare Alliance's Meals-on-Wheels.

The 94-year-old Hilltop woman rarely gets out anymore to shop or eat with friends at the local Moose Lodge. She tires too easily. And cooking is tough because she can't stand on her feet for very long. Still, she's cheerful and "doing great."

"I get my meals and always have stuff in my house to fill in," she said. "I feel pretty good."

Miller is one of about 20,000 people in five central Ohio counties who benefit from the LifeCare Alliance program that seeks to provide regular, nutritious meals to Ohioans who are elderly or have medical problems.

With advocacy groups reporting that as many as half of older Americans are at risk of becoming malnourished, an Ohio commission is recommending the expansion of programs that provide seniors with the food and nutritional support they need.

The Malnutrition Prevention Commission, formed in 2016 by the state legislature, issued a report in March detailing 16 recommendations aimed at preventing and addressing senior malnutrition, creating awareness, increasing screenings and assessments, encouraging proposals from researchers, and establishing more complete data.

Malnutrition is a leading cause of illness and death among seniors, the report says. Citing data from a 2017 Meals on Wheels America report, it notes that 671,333, or 26 percent, of Ohio’s 2.6 million older adults were isolated and living alone; 443,770 ( 17 percent) were at risk of hunger; and 694,565 ( 27 percent) were living in or near poverty.

And data from the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University of Ohio indicate that 30 percent of Ohioans will be 60 or older in 2040, compared with just fewer than 20 percent today.