Aging

Harriet Kelly has one word to describe the day she stopped driving four years ago: miserable. “It’s no fun when you give up driving, I just have to say that,” she says. Harriet Kelly, of Denver, says she hasn’t had even a fender bender since the 1960s. Still, she noticed in her 80s that her […]

Elder abuse, which can take the form of sexual or emotional abuse, physical violence and even financial manipulation, affects at least 10 percent of older Americans, according to a review article in the Nov. 12 New England Journal of Medicine. That figure, researchers note, is likely an underestimate, since it’s based on self-reported cases, and […]

With dementia cases rising rapidly around the world, the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Dublin announced Monday the launch of an institute aimed at helping developing countries learn more about the disease and cope with the burden it places on patients, families and caregivers. The Global Brain Health Institute, which will […]

Fresh off a political triumph in California, the nation’s chief advocacy group for physician-assisted suicide laws is mobilizing for many more battles on behalf of terminally ill patients. Since Gov. Jerry Brown signed California’s end-of-life options bill last month, a new chapter is starting for Compassion & Choices, a Denver-based nonprofit that led the campaign […]

Even though health problems forced Denise Scott to retire several years ago, she feels “very blessed” because her medicine is still relatively inexpensive and a subsidy for low-income Medicare beneficiaries covers the full cost of her monthly drug plan premiums. But the subsidy is not going to stretch as far next year. That’s because the […]

What kind of care do you want at the end of your life? Stanford University researchers put that question to members of three major ethnic groups in the San Francisco Bay area and found little variation in their responses. “There is a common humanity – people want to live as long as they have good […]

>>Can’t see the video? Click here to listen to audio instead. Caring for older relatives is usually a task associated with Baby Boomers, the 50- and 60-somethings who find their aging parents need assistance. But almost a quarter of the adults who take care of older people – on top of their regular jobs and […]

Ada Anderson helps her mother, Violeta Anderson, brush her teeth before her dentist appointment on Nov. 6, 2015. (Photo by Heidi de Marco/KHN) LOS ANGELES – Ada Anderson tried to prepare her 80-year-old mother for her dental visit. She gave her medication to quell her anxiety, and they rehearsed opening her mouth wide. But at […]

Violeta Anderson, 80, has dementia and lives at a group home in Valley Village, Calif. Her daughter Ada Anderson helps her get ready for her dental appointment on Nov. 6, 2015. (Heidi de Marco/KHN) Anderson looks for clothes for her 80-year-old mother. (Heidi de Marco/KHN) Anderson buttons up her mother’s sweater while they both sing […]

RED BAY, Ala. — At 72, her gray hair closely shorn, her days occupied by sewing and television, Wanda Chism seems every bit a typical nursing home patient — but for her size. Chism is severely obese, unable to leave her bed without a mechanical lift and a team of nurses. She has not walked […]