Senior Living
/Health
When a friend becomes a caregiver
For several years, Nicole Straight and Patricia Wood, who lived across the street from each other in Sausalito, California, were more neighbors than friends, exchanging sociable greetings and occasionally having coffee.
Then, last October, Wood took a fall, broke her neck, and spent three months in rehabilitation. When she returned to the house...Read more
When a friend becomes a caregiver
For several years, Nicole Straight and Patricia Wood, who lived across the street from each other in Sausalito, California, were more neighbors than friends, exchanging sociable greetings and occasionally having coffee.
Then, last October, Wood took a fall, broke her neck, and spent three months in rehabilitation. When she returned to the house...Read more
A tiny fish’s behavior suggests aging may happen in stages, study finds
A tiny fish that lives only four to eight months is revealing that aging may unfold in distinct biological stages rather than as a slow, continuous decline — findings that could help scientists better understand how people can age better.
By tracking how more than 700 African turquoise killifish swim, sleep and feed — and how that behavior ...Read more
Chicago woman shows it’s never too late to reach a goal, especially when it comes to education
CHICAGO -- Englewood neighborhood native Deniece Rogers didn’t celebrate her 2011 bachelor’s degree, or her 2015 master’s degree. But when she crossed the finish line with her doctorate, she threw a party for herself because “that one, she felt.”
At 75, the Near North Side resident earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational ...Read more
Chicago woman shows it's never too late to reach a goal, especially when it comes to education
CHICAGO -- Englewood neighborhood native Deniece Rogers didn’t celebrate her 2011 bachelor’s degree, or her 2015 master’s degree. But when she crossed the finish line with her doctorate, she threw a party for herself because “that one, she felt.”
At 75, the Near North Side resident earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational ...Read more
People can sense mental decline, says new research powered by smartwatches
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Older adults may be better judges of their moment-to-moment mental sharpness than scientists once assumed, according to a UC Davis study — which relied on familiar technology: the smartwatch.
The study found that when an individual rated their mental sharpness below their own average, their performance on the objective ...Read more
Why older pedestrians fare worse in car crashes
On an August morning two years ago, Meredith Melville was crossing Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, California, to meet a friend at a cafe. While in the crosswalk, she noticed a car some distance away.
Perhaps she misjudged its speed, she said, because she’d walked only partway across the street when the car, a Toyota sedan, came bearing down on ...Read more
Why older pedestrians fare worse in car crashes
On an August morning two years ago, Meredith Melville was crossing Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, California, to meet a friend at a cafe. While in the crosswalk, she noticed a car some distance away.
Perhaps she misjudged its speed, she said, because she’d walked only partway across the street when the car, a Toyota sedan, came bearing down on ...Read more
A bird-watching video game could improve dementia patients' memory
DALLAS — Can a bird-watching video game help train dementia patients' memory? A recent training program suggests it could.
Bird Watch, a neuroscience-based cognitive training game developed by a University of Texas at Dallas neuroscientist, was recently launched across three Texas senior living communities through a partnership between the ...Read more
Grab bars can help older adults avoid falls. Why won’t Medicare cover them?
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Grab bars are commonly recommended to help older adults avoid potentially life-altering falls, but basic Medicare does not cover them — a policy a new lobbying campaign hopes to change.
Grab bars — rails attached to walls, particularly in bathrooms — help provide balance and prevent falls, preventing serious injuries,...Read more
Travel Trending with Kathy Witt: Cuddle up at The Cove
You could call my brief but blissfully unhurried interlude at The Cove in Islamorada, Florida, a midweek work break or a microcation reset. But I call it pure sensory salt-air delight—the kind that arrives quietly, like sunset stealing across the sky, and then stays with you long after you’ve returned home.
Three days of sun, sand, surf —...Read more
What geriatric emergency departments do differently
It had been a rough few months. Cynthia Tompkins was hospitalized in May for osteomyelitis — a bone infection — then spent six weeks in a rehabilitation facility. “It was a struggle,” she said. “I didn’t bounce back too well.”
Tompkins returned to her home in San Diego, but she was still taking antibiotics, along with a host of ...Read more
What geriatric emergency departments do differently
It had been a rough few months. Cynthia Tompkins was hospitalized in May for osteomyelitis — a bone infection — then spent six weeks in a rehabilitation facility. “It was a struggle,” she said. “I didn’t bounce back too well.”
Tompkins returned to her home in San Diego, but she was still taking antibiotics, along with a host of ...Read more
Chinatown elders need groceries. These teens go door-to-door delivering them
LOS ANGELES — Lynn Nguyen had just begun working at the Chinatown Branch Library in 2019, when she learned that Ai Hoa and G&G markets were shuttering. As the last two full-service grocery stores in Chinatown, these closures left a gap in food access in the neighborhood, where one in four residents are above the age of 65 and 30% of households...Read more
Chinatown elders need groceries. These teens go door-to-door delivering them
LOS ANGELES — Lynn Nguyen had just begun working at the Chinatown Branch Library in 2019, when she learned that Ai Hoa and G&G markets were shuttering. As the last two full-service grocery stores in Chinatown, these closures left a gap in food access in the neighborhood, where one in four residents are above the age of 65 and 30% of households...Read more
Experts uncover potential cause of common type of stroke
LONDON — Researchers have pinpointed the potential cause of a type of stroke suffered by hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year, which could explain why widely used treatments do not work.
The discovery could also help pave the way for new treatments for lacunar strokes, which are caused by damage to the tiny blood ...Read more
New to weight training? How to get started over 60
LONDON — New research suggests that doing 90 minutes to two hours of weight training per week can slash the risk of an early death.
The new study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, involved 147,374 people who were asked every two years for a 30-year follow up period about how much time they spent doing aerobic exercise and ...Read more
Wills Eye retiree George Spaeth, 94, reflects on his award-winning research and humanistic approach to medicine
PHILADELPHIA — As a resident training at Wills Eye Hospital, George Spaeth was perplexed by a seven-year-old patient’s symptoms.
Her legs angled inward, her hair was straw-colored with an odd consistency, and she had intellectual disabilities.
She had come in for faulty vision caused by her lenses — the part of the eye that enables ...Read more
Travel Trending with Kathy Witt: American Cruise Lines’ Mississippi River cruises celebrate Mark Twain and 150th anniversary of 'Tom Sawyer'
Two major milestones converge in 2026, a serendipitous occasion that is, as Mark Twain described coincidence, “a delightful thing”: the 150th anniversary of the publication of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and the nationwide commemoration of America 250, marking the semiquincentennial of the United States.
And one of the most delightful ...Read more
To afford aging in place, older adults turn to ‘Golden Girls’ housing
Shirley Jennett, a retired nurse, loves her spacious ranch-style house in Denver, with its big backyard and gazebo.
“I want to stay here,” she vowed. “And die here.”
She might pull that off. In relatively good health, Jennett still drives to lunch with friends, does her own housekeeping and grocery shopping, and plows through a book a ...Read more







