Updated June 2025 In recent years, unpleasant members of society have felt emboldened to express their hostility to members of different races, ethnicities, and gender identity groups. Many believe that the rapid rise in hate crimes is at least partially attributable to political leaders who polarize constituents in the interest of retaining their own political […]
Many seniors are energetic and tech-savvy. Both of those qualities may be necessary to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccination. Unfortunately, seniors who do not have the stamina or skills to navigate online resources may be left behind. Supplies of COVID-19 vaccines are increasing, but distribution continues to be challenging. Shipping the refrigerated doses, supplying […]
Estimates of the number of family members working as unpaid caregivers range from 48 million to 65.7 million, with 53 million being a common approximation. Of those, about 37.1 million family members provide care to someone who is 65 or older. About 30% of Americans in their 50s and early 60s act as family caregivers, while […]
Health authorities discourage social gatherings as a way to slow the spread of the virus that is responsible for COVID-19. Large groups of people in workplaces and schools also increase viral transmission, as governments discovered when newly opened schools closed after witnessing a spike in new COVID-19 cases. In some settings, including nursing homes and […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its list of risk factors for developing a serious illness after exposure to the coronavirus. Until that update, the CDC advised the public that individuals who were 65 and over had an elevated risk of suffering severe illness or death from COVID-19. The update reflects […]
Providing senior care and maintaining social distancing may seem like incompatible goals. Some services, whether provided by home health aides or by the staff of a senior living facility, need to be provided in person. A certain amount of physical contact — or at least close proximity — is necessary when seniors need assistance bathing, […]
“I don’t consider myself a natural-born doctor,” Victoria Sweet recently told a group gathered at San Francisco’s Institute on Aging. She then described her unlikely scholastic path to physiciandom: a major in math, minor in classics — and an awakening to Karl Jung while browsing in a bookstore one day. “I was taken by the […]
Geriatrician Louise Aronson set out to write a book that promises to “look at old age in new ways.” But the first challenge, she explained recently, was the title she chose. “I wanted to call it ‘Older,’” she says. “But then a woman in the publishing industry took me aside and said: ‘I think you […]
Nursing home residents and their advocates have scored some improvements in the types and quality of care provided. But in many facilities, the caring concept of “nursing” and “home” are still hard to come by. While lauding the good changes, Eric Carlson, directing attorney of the advocacy group Justice in Aging, describes the 10 most common complaints […]