Show Meet Ponders Road Blocks To The Elderly By LE ANN BLODGETT lack of transportation and coordination between service agencies are the biggest road blocks to older adults receiving the help they These facts were brought out in a hearing before the county commission this new programs can be instigated existing services must be says Eva planning The Davis County Council on has just completed a report analyzing statistics from interviews with older Commission Glen Flint told persons gathered for the hearing that he was deeply sorry about the failure of sales tax support for transportation falling to gain support in the recent HE SAID DAVIS County has a plan to get senior citizens from their homes to services but their hands are tied without funds to implement the He attributed the failure of the sales tax proposal to confusion in marking the ballot and people being voted for thinking they were also voting for sales tax supported he PEOPLE HAVE called in and said they voted for low fare and want to know when we are going to get the A separate election would cost the county several thousand dollars but would be held if public transportation became vital because of fuel according to the ONLY TWO percent of the senior citizens in Davis County take advantage of food Although there are a great majority who are it is pride and lack of information that keep others from using this and similar Other older citizens experience loneliness and even though they have sufficient THE 75 AND over group are with 22 percent of the population over being 75 and Twenty-six percent are living alone-being single or losing a partner in Hancock pointed out that percent of Davis senior citizens own their But that doesn't tell the whole story as some homes are still not appropriate and a large minority do not have adequate A HOUSING program for seniors is getting a start in the Over 50 percent of citizens over 60 have yearly incomes of less than Forty percent have poor 33 percent have trouble with stairs and 29 percent have hearing THE FIRST priority listed by the council was to organize an referral and service in senior citizen are of no value unless they are made says The council has proposed to use churches and libraries more in helping the Davis County library director Jeanne Layton was in attendance at the THE COUNCIL plans to publicize a directory of available helps and Many people don't know about such things as Medicare and physicians need to be impressed with the need of older adults to have regular physical examinations to prevent serious she |