Declining Health & Frailty

Functional Ability is Destiny at the End

This important article by Dr. Dhruv Khullar in the New York Times offers new insights from data mining about a critical tipping point for older adults who drift beyond having chronic illnesses to also developing functional ability deficits.  This lethal…

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How To Talk To Aging Parents About Where To Live

I was recently interviewed for an article entitled “Conversation vs. Confrontation: Guidelines for Effective Communication with Your Aging Parents.” In it I discuss how often the insistence by older adults to “stay put” in their home despite deteriorating circumstances prevents…

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Why Would An Aging Parent Say That?

A reoccurring theme in caregiver support groups is disparaging and derogatory comments made by aging parents to their adult children who are struggling to do the right thing. Voicing anger and bitterness about how their life has turned out, these…

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Death Is Not The Biggest Problem

In her article Silicon Valley Would Rather Cure Death Than Make Life Worth Living Emily Dreyfuss takes technology’s oligarchs to task over their collective crusade to “cure death.” Not that curing death is a bad thing, but as Dreyfuss points…

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The Delirium Epidemic in Hospitalized Older Adults

“Medical care has evolved to be absolutely inhumane to older people.” Sharon Inouye, MD Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Hospital-induced delirium, the sudden disruption of consciousness and cognition marked by vivid hallucinations and an inability to focus, affects 7…

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Higher Levels of Depression in Married Caregivers

“We also found that caregivers who are married and caring for a family member with a diagnosis other than cancer, such as Alzheimer’s disease, had higher levels of depression,” says Debra Parker-Oliver, professor of family and community medicine at the…

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A New Set Design for Nursing Homes

This is a fascinating innovation in the physical design of a nursing home. Forget the clinical model of mini-hospitals and consider bringing the outside inside with a neighborhood look and feel. How comforting to have a front porch with your…

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The Ceremony of the Shoes

Embedded in the living towards the end lies a narrative about love under fatal duress. It is a space that refines courage and fosters an unexpected elegance. Frannie Lindsay’s poem below is about how this elegance, born of love and…

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We All Else Fails, Ride Motorcycles…

I have shared this deeply moving, three minute video with audiences throughout the United States and Canada. No matter how many times I’ve watched it, I am always inspired by the love and courage of these older adults who insisted…

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