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A Hidden Epidemic Threatens Older Adults: Malnutrition December 4, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - For most of her life, Jenny Anne Horst-Martz’s mother worked hard to stay slender. But now, at age 90, her mother struggles to keep enough weight on. The problem started a few years ago when her mother was injured in…
A New Form of Medical Tourism November 5, 2024 by Debby Waldman - To date, only 10 states and Washington, DC, allow doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives, and only two states allow it for nonresidents. Journalist Debby Waldman describes the situation and what it’s like to travel to one…
Their Biggest Worry Is the Cost of Health Care October 24, 2024 by Judith Graham - What weighs most heavily on older adults’ minds when it comes to health care? The cost of services and therapies, and their ability to pay.
What Makes Older Achievers Tick? October 7, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - In recent years, oncologist Philip Salem, MD, has done some of the best work of his career. Using new combinations of existing cancer therapies—personalized immunotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy—he’s getting remarkable results for patients with advanced lung, pancreatic and other…
Utilities Plunge Nursing Homes into Darkness September 23, 2024 by Kate Ruder - When powerful wind gusts created threatening wildfire conditions one day near Boulder, CO, the state’s largest utility cut power to 52,000 homes and businesses
Senior Centers Are Evolving September 4, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - The first time Sue and Mike Miller visited their community’s senior center in Portage, MI, several years ago, they found a few people playing pool or bridge—and decided it wasn’t for them. But the couple tried again in 2022, when…
The Burden of Getting Medical Care Can Exhaust Older Patients August 13, 2024 by Judith Graham - Susanne Gilliam, 67, was walking down her driveway to get the mail in January when she slipped and fell on a patch of black ice.
Dementia: A Diagnosis Too Often Delayed August 9, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - Last year, a bank officer phoned Kelli Brown’s brother with a concern: a lot of money was going out of their 87-year-old father’s bank account. Their father, a retired accountant, lived alone in Cincinnati. He seemed to be functioning well…
Medical Research Is Shortchanging Older Women July 27, 2024 by Judith Graham - In the past, scientists assumed that males and females were so much alike that the results of studies done on men applied to women as well. They don’t. For this article, journalist Judith Graham asked top doctors and medical researchers…
How to Navigate Our Fragmented Medical System July 3, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - For three years, Lil Banchero’s 86-year-old mother struggled with pain due to advanced arthritis. She tried yoga. Doctors prescribed medications and tried injections. Nothing worked. The pain got worse, and her mother became depressed. “Months passed,” said Banchero. “Nobody was…
Poor Hearing Can Be Frustrating, but So Can Some Hearing Aids June 27, 2024 by Judith Graham - It was an every-other-day routine, full of frustration. Every time my husband called his father, who was 94 when he died in 2022, he’d wait for his dad to find his hearing aids and put them in before they started talking.
Where Are All the Geriatricians? June 11, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - Even though he’s at retirement age, T.S. Dharmarajan, MD, continues to care for older patients as the clinical director of geriatrics at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. But he’s terrified of the possibility of becoming a patient himself one…
Health Risks Mount When Seniors Are Stranded in the ER June 4, 2024 by Judith Graham - It’s called “boarding” when patients who have come to an emergency room spend hours and hours, lying on a gurney in a hallway, waiting for a bed in the hospital. Studies show that seniors who have been boarded don’t do…
Are You Trapped in Your Medicare Advantage Plan? May 20, 2024 by Sarah Jane Tribble - In 2016, Richard Timmins went to a free informational seminar to learn more about Medicare coverage.
About 25 Percent of Older Adults in the United States Will Fall Within the Next Year May 1, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - At the end of each appointment, Jo Ann Battles’ cardiologist offers a “thought for the day.” Four years ago, it was this tongue-in-cheek advice: “Whatever you do, don’t fall.” Battles didn’t think much about it. At the time, she was…
Do We Simply Not Care about Older People? April 23, 2024 by Judith Graham - The COVID-19 pandemic would be a wake-up call for America, advocates for the elderly predicted
Should Older People Take the New Weight Loss Drugs? April 3, 2024 by Judith Graham - Corlee Morris has dieted throughout her adult life. After her weight began climbing in high school, she spent years losing 50 or 100 pounds then gaining it back. 
Don’t Forget Your Eyes March 21, 2024 by Bernard J. Wolfson - I vividly remember that late Friday afternoon when my eye pressure spiked, and I staggered on foot to my ophthalmologist’s office as the rapidly thickening fog in my field of vision shrouded passing cars and traffic lights.
When Is It Time to Move to Senior Housing? March 6, 2024 by Mary Jacobs - Even after a diagnosis of vascular dementia, Laura Brancato’s father was able to stay in his own home for years. 
In Later Life, Is a Little Excess Weight Such a Bad Thing? February 14, 2024 by Judith Graham - Millions of people enter later life carrying an extra 10 to 15 pounds, weight they’ve gained after having children, developing joint problems, becoming less active or making meals the center of their social lives.
Senior Centers Are Evolving - The first time Sue and Mike Miller visited their community’s senior center in Portage, MI, several years ago, they found a few people playing pool or bridge—and decided it wasn’t for them. But the couple tried again in 2022, when…
The Upside and Downside of Being Owned by a Cat - I love my cat, but until now, I hadn’t thought of her as a way to stay healthy. In fact, when I first brought Velvet—a small, feisty black kitty—home, I thought of her as a dog substitute. My beloved dog…