High demand concerns meal agency

LYNN – A sharp rise in demand for “medically tailored meals” has a nutrition care agency concerned about the need for increased care for significantly ill Lynn residents.Community Servings provided meals in 2013 to 55 Lynn residents with serious medical problems, ranging from diabetes to cancer and multiple sclerosis – a 53 percent increase in demand for meals over 2012 numbers, according to Community Servings.?There is a tremendous demand for meals like this for people struggling with serious illnesses in low-income communities like Lynn,” said Community Servings Chief Executive David Waters.He said Boston-based Community Servings provides meals to individuals with illnesses as well as their families.?That way a mother who is sick can make sure her children are fed,” he said.Community Servings, in a statement, noted its workers served a record 425,000 meals to individuals and families in 18 Massachusetts cities and towns in 2013. Waters said the demand, in part, reflects more information available on the close link between nutrition and recovery from serious illness.But he said the local increase in meal requests also indicates the number of Lynn residents with cancer and other serious diseases is on the rise.Project Bread, in its 2013 status of hunger in Massachusetts report, cited statistics stating that the health care cost of hunger in the United States in 2010 was $130.5 billion.The status report stated that 700,000 Massachusetts residents last year “can?t confidently predict where their next meal is coming from.”