{"id":410782,"date":"2026-08-19T11:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/410782\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:50:12","slug":"texas-diaper-bank-senior-care-is-its-fastest-growing-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/410782\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Diaper Bank senior care is its fastest-growing program"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Karen\u00a0Pittsley, 77, lost control of her bladder and started dealing with incontinence, the Texas Diaper Bank<\/a> helped restore her dignity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get old, nobody expects that you\u2019re going to be back in diapers, but it\u2019s a reality for many of us seniors,\u201d said the retired nurse who lives in San Antonio. \u201cThe diaper bank has just been a godsend to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Erika<\/p>\n

Erika Aranguiz, program manager of direct services, center, shows Zachry Corp. volunteers how to repackage adult incontinence pull-ups at the Texas Diaper Bank.<\/p>\n

Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News\"Travis<\/p>\n

Travis Mross, president of Zachary Construction and the board president of the Texas Diaper Bank, and son Chance, 10, volunteer this summer at the Texas Diaper Bank.<\/p>\n

Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News\"Repackaged<\/p>\n

Repackaged adult pull-ups are prepared for distribution at the Texas Diaper Bank in San Antonio. The nonprofit serves families, free of charge, regardless of income, and clients can sign up to receive children\u2019s diapers, menstrual products or adult incontinence products quarterly.<\/p>\n

Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News\"From<\/p>\n

From left, Jason Aleman, senior vice president of community impact at United Way San Antonio and Bexar County; his wife, Cindy;\u00a0and Tom Grothues, a board member of the Texas Diaper Bank, volunteer at the diaper bank.<\/p>\n

Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News\"Volunteers<\/p>\n

Volunteers from Zachry Corp. repackage diapers to prepare them for delivery. The volunteer group repackaged 48,500 diapers and 1,720 adult pull-ups during their shift at the Texas Diaper Bank earlier this summer.<\/p>\n

Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n

The Texas Diaper Bank<\/a>, a nonprofit providing free diapers, wipes, menstrual products, and adult diapers and incontinence supplies to individuals and families in San Antonio and nearby counties, is the oldest diaper bank in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Senior Care Essentials program<\/a> is its fastest-growing\u00a0\u2014 and most expensive, said\u00a0Lexi Bachran<\/a>, the diaper bank\u2019s chief of advancement and programs. Adult diapers and other products can cost more than $200 per month, which can be a significant burden for many seniors, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten calls from seniors pleading with me to not let them die this way,\u201d Bachran said. \u201cWe have 224 older adults waiting for services right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

While nearly 50% of seniors deal with incontinence, according to the diaper bank, Medicare\u00a0does not cover<\/a> incontinence supplies or adult diapers. In San Antonio, the poverty rate decreased for all age groups except older adults, whose rate increased from 13.3% to nearly 15% from 2015 to 2024, according to the city\u2019s Department of Human Services<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The diaper bank\u2019s team of 15 staff members\u00a0\u2014 along with volunteer groups\u00a0\u2014 is stepping up to help the region\u2019s older residents. They gather at the nonprofit\u2019s 30,000-square-foot warehouse on the Northwest Side to organize and pack adult diapers and other incontinence products to the sound of pop music blasting through speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Senior services get a boost<\/p>\n

Pittsley said she\u2019s gotten her hobbies and her life back since she started receiving diapers at her front door through the bank\u2019s program\u00a0\u2014 and that\u2019s exactly Bachran\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide these services so they can go ahead and take that Zumba class without always having the fear and anxiety of getting wet in the back of their head,\u201d Bachran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nonprofit already has helped more than 40,000 seniors, and now it\u2019s extending its reach.<\/p>\n

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Funded by nearly $64,000 from the city<\/a>, the Texas Diaper Bank has started\u00a0handing out adult diapers at the city\u2019s senior centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Antonio has built these wonderful and amazing senior centers, but they\u2019re afraid to use them,\u201d Bachran said. \u201cThat\u2019s where we come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program will be available at the city\u2019s 12 comprehensive senior centers. The city also has part-time senior centers and senior nutrition program centers, which will not participate in the diaper bank program.<\/p>\n

The senior centers already offer<\/a> the Healthy Eating Aging Living Nutrition Program, which provides one daily meal meeting nutrition requirements in a \u201csupportive, engaging social setting,\u201d as well as individualized programs and activities like arts and crafts, exercise classes, field trips and technology classes. They also provide transportation options<\/a> for individuals who live within a 5-mile radius of a senior center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI hope our products can enhance their experience,\u201d Bachran said.<\/p>\n

The city funding runs through Sept. 30, 2027, with an option to renew for another year.<\/p>\n

Emphasis on beginning of life, \u2018none on the end\u2019<\/p>\n

But the diaper bank\u2019s senior program remains the most underfunded compared with its offerings for free baby diapers and menstrual products, Bachran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cTexas puts a lot of emphasis on the beginning of life, which is beautiful and needs support, but there is none on the end,\u201d she said. \u201cOur biggest gift from the state is for childcare, for kids between zero and 36 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roughly 14% of\u00a0Bexar County\u2019s population is 65 or older, according to the\u00a0U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>. That equates to more than 300,000 people, based on the bureau\u2019s 2025 population estimate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The diaper bank\u2019s support, which includes delivery to seniors\u2019 front doors, is important because some older adults tend to isolate themselves out of embarrassment over being unable to wait in line for the bathroom or buying diapers in public, said Adriana Rocha Garcia<\/a>, president and CEO of the Center for Health Empowerment in South Texas<\/a> and a former San Antonio City Council member.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rocha Garcia\u2019s parents both struggled with incontinence and were often too embarrassed to ask her for help, she said. It\u2019s hard to see someone who was once so independent be embarrassed about seeking help, she added.<\/p>\n

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Bob\u00a0Imler, 79, a San Antonio native who receives diapers from the bank, said it can all be \u201creally humiliating\u201d because of the stigma around incontinence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very traumatic experience to lose independence and bladder control, and I\u2019ve gotten a modicum of dignity back from the Texas Diaper Bank,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Imler fell and fractured both his hip and upper femur two years ago and had to start rehabilitation. He found out about the Texas Diaper Bank through the rehab program. He\u2019s received services for about a year and a half, he said, and hopes more people find out about the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The\u00a0Texas Diaper Bank\u2019s Senior Care Essentials program helps those who are 60 or older and live in the following counties:\u00a0Bexar,\u00a0Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall,\u00a0Kerr,\u00a0McMullen, Medina and Wilson.\u00a0Bachran said the Texas Diaper Bank staff are \u201chonored to serve\u201d their clients. \u201cThey\u2019re what keeps us going,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom used to change my diapers and now it\u2019s the other way around,\u201d Rocha Garcia said. \u201cWe need to stop acting like seniors don\u2019t matter because they\u2019re the reason we are here today\u00a0\u2014 we stood on their shoulders and we can\u2019t turn our backs on them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Karen\u00a0Pittsley, 77, lost control of her bladder and started dealing with incontinence, the Texas Diaper Bank helped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-410782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}