Everyone of a certain age remembers Sally Struthers’ Save the Children TV commercials, encouraging viewers to improve the life of an impoverished child in a developing nation by sponsoring him or her for the price of a cup of coffee a day. Many organiz… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) Making the decision to transition your loved one to hospice care (for people whose medical conditions mean they are expected to die within six months) is a tim… Continue reading
My grandma was what the polite would call “a character.” The third of nine, my Gram was born the year the Titanic went down. She spent her life doting on her Italian family, even if she couldn’t remember who she was bossing around at the moment, callin… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) Before his mother, Dee Dee, died from emphysema in 2009, Larry Sernovitz spent a lot of time at her bedside, keeping her company. Toward the last few days of D… Continue reading
When a friend or family member is knee-deep in caring for a loved one, a common gesture is to drop off a casserole, or remind him or her to “let me know what you need.” But as genuine as your intentions may be, they may not be the best ways to ease the… Continue reading
In many families, holiday or other event gatherings are a collaborative effort. Someone brings the main dish, someone else brings a salad and another person shows up with dessert. Maybe it’s time, experts say, to assign one dinner guest to keep an eye … Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) More than once in my life, I wish I knew more about hospice care, which is a sustained focus on quality-of-life near the end of a journey. A deeper working kno… Continue reading
A decade ago, Dr. Richard Thill moved back into the family home in Anaheim, Calif. to live with his aging parents. Thill was with his mother when she died at age 102 and continues to live with his father, Elmer, who, at 104, is Anaheim’s oldest lifelon… Continue reading
“I’m scared and worried,” wrote Dennis Abrams in a column in The Houston Chronicle in July 2017. Abrams’ husband, David Fox, had just been diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Abrams wasn’t surprised. The changes he’d seen in his husband were adding up… Continue reading
If you’re an older adult, you may have noticed your skin isn’t the same as when you were younger; you bruise more easily and your skin seems thinner. That’s because as we age, our skin changes. For one thing, it does get thinner. “This is multifactoria… Continue reading