It’s the headline no one wants to read: Hospitals are once again exceeding their capacity in many parts of the country as beds fill up with sick patients. Just when we thought we might be out of the woods with COVID-19, new strains are emerging, landing some of our most vulnerable, including young children and [...]
Turning 65 is a major milestone for a lot of people. In the U.S., it’s considered the typical “retirement age,” opening the door to a variety of benefits, including the ability for retirees to sign up for a Medicare health insurance plan. While Medicare can help ensure seniors get the healthcare and services they need, [...]
A video that went viral last year highlighted an all-too-common issue. In the video, a British couple, both age 89, who had been separated by the pandemic, were finally reunited after months apart. Living in different long-term care facilities, they had not been permitted to visit one another amid COVID lockdowns. As restrictions eased, the [...]
From time to time, we like to highlight senior living-adjacent topics that are more serious in nature — including around mental and behavioral health — in the hopes of starting important conversations that are not always easy to initiate. The past two-plus years of the pandemic have tested people in countless ways. Concerns about staying [...]
I recently read a disheartening article about the prevalence of ageism in the healthcare system in this country. Age discrimination and bias is a longstanding issue — one that has had a light shined upon it during the pandemic. Poor treatment of seniors in nursing homes and crisis care standards that withheld healthcare resources from [...]
“Age is just a number.” “You’re only as old as you feel.” “Age is a state of mind.” Such clichés may seem trite, but there’s more and more evidence that these sentiments about aging may be quite accurate. A man-made time warp Ellen Langer is a renowned Harvard social psychologist who has been researching the [...]
Although different people thrive in different environments, it’s hard to deny the research showing the health benefits often experienced by seniors who opt to move to a continuing care retirement community (CCRC, also called a life plan community). For example, the 2018 Age Well Study found that, when compared to a demographically similar control group [...]
What do you think when you hear the term “independent living”? This phrase seems to have different connotations for different people, creating confusion. Even within the senior living industry, it gets applied to a pretty wide range of living and care situations. Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of “independent living” and how [...]
Our nation has experienced an agonizing nine months as millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 and hundreds of thousands have died. So, it was an emotional moment this past week as we watched the first Americans receive the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine. As I wrote recently, it is also welcome news that healthcare [...]
Finally: Some good news on the COVID-19 front! The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which shows a 95 percent efficacy rate, as well as the Moderna vaccine with its 94 percent efficacy, are both being fast-tracked by the FDA for emergency use. There is optimism that they will receive approval in the U.S. any day now, and initial [...]
