eruv

Question

Please help me understand the eruv issue. If one should not rely on even a carefully checked and maintained eruv in a community where the majority of the community (out of town) relies on the eruv, does this mean that mothers who have children who cannot yet walk, and the elderly and infirm who cannot walk are unable to participate in communal Shabbat life? When I have spent time in communities that do not have an eruv, such as in NY, I see Gentiles being hired to push baby carriages and wheelchairs, from what I understand,this is not okay either. I could certainly live without carrying anything but the baby on Shabbat. Having been blessed with not yet walking children continually for the past decade and a half, I do not know how I could learn to live Shabbat unable to leave the apartment with the children. Incidentally, correctly or not, when I was growing up (at the Jersey Shore) we did not know what an eruv was yet we pushed the carriage and the wheelchair on the Island. Thank you for helping me understand. This forum is very rapidly changing our lives in so many ways.