Volunteers Dwindling to Help Rural Seniors as Baby Boomers Swell Ranks of Older Adults

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns volunteers helping seniors in rural regions are declining as more baby boomers enter the senior population, according to Forbes . Compounding the problem is existing volunteers are often older themselves, and have limited ability to do manual tasks. Rural Area on Aging officials in California, North Dakota, and New Mexico informed the GAO that boomers are contributing less of their time to help seniors compared to previous generations — a trend possibly driven by boomers' need to work longer, other obligations, or less interest in senior center engagements. "Working-age adults move out of rural areas to find more employment opportunities and that some older adults move to rural areas to retire," the report authors noted. Rural seniors' needs also tend to be harder to address than their urban counterparts, due to the distances they must travel to get services. They also tend to experience multiple chronic health problems. To cope with the rural volunteer shortage, aging offices have launched unique solutions. One strategy deployed in North Dakota and Pennsylvania is having refrigerated meals delivered through FedEx.