Architect Erick Mikiten ticks off some of the top reasons many people fear growing older: perceived threats of being institutionalized, aging out of relevance, becoming progressively more isolated. And, he says, these are the self-same traits that must be avoided in architectural design. Mikiten argues that architects must update designs of homes and other buildings […]

Chances are you may be one of the 66 million family caregivers in the U.S. charged with attending the needs of a loved one — or will join their growing ranks one day. Either way, you are likely aware of the many practical and emotional challenges involved in navigating life while providing that care. Caregivers […]

At a recent lecture titled “Making a Difference to Seriously Ill Older Adults,” Louise C. Walter, Chief of the Division of Geriatrics at the University of California-San Francisco, first answered the question she’s asked most often: How old do you have to be to get treated by a geriatrician? To the surprise of many, geriatrics […]

“These phone lines are very helpful. I really do appreciate them,” one man told me recently as I was volunteering at the Institute on Aging’s Friendship Line — a national warmline and hotline for people 60 and older. “But what I really want, what I really need, is someone to come to my house to […]

After 35 years, you might assume that retirement would bring an end to the professional life of sex therapist/sex columnist/board-certified sexologist Isadora Alman. You would be wrong. It turns out she’s still happy to share on her website the insights gained through her working years and decades of counseling (as well as over 25 years authoring […]

Long-term insurance — a form of coverage generally intended to help pay for care services that may be needed later in life — has already been both embraced and disgraced in its relatively short history. First introduced in some forms and formats in the late 1970s, it didn’t really take hold with consumers until a […]

Copious studies document that loneliness rates are highest among those who are college-age and seniors. That problem plagued Madeline Dangerfield-Cha and Joy Zhang, who connected as friends just before starting business school at Stanford a few years ago. Their early interests and experiences differed but meshed: Zhang had previously worked as a hospice volunteer, and Dangerfield-Cha in […]

No one gets out alive. So it’s a particularly rich irony that so many people insist on denying death, planning for it, or even mentioning it. But that’s a topic for another time — and another website. The reality of death hits many people hardest when they lose a beloved pet. And try as they […]

Many of the nation’s 40 million family caregivers are caught in a bind made worse by state policies requiring them to work a number of hours in paid jobs every month to retain the insurance coverage provided by Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California. They simply cannot take time away from their caregiving duties to do […]

The fervor sets in around the middle of October, when pumpkins appear, seeming to beg to be carved into jack-o-lanterns and homeowners give in to the newish tradition of putting up ornate and ghoulish yard decorations. Then comes the demand to focus on being thankful, with gatherings of family members and the hand-wringing over serving […]