As Gas Prices Soar, Elderly Face Cuts in Aid

By JOHN LELAND SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — Early last month, Jeanne Fair, 62, got her first hot meals delivered to her home in this lake town in the sparsely populated southwestern part of the state. Then after two deliveries the meals stopped because gas prices had made the delivery too expensive. Sandra Prediger, who has a home health aide twice a week, has health problems that require her to drive to distant hospitals from her home in South Haven, Mich. Costly gas may force cutbacks. “They called and said I was outside of the delivery area,” said Mrs. Fair, who is homebound and has not been able to use her left arm since a stroke in 1997. Faced with soaring gasoline prices, agencies around the country that provide services to the elderly say they are having to cut back on programs like Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance... [read full story]