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By Paula Span, Illustration: Karlotta Freier, The New York Times, June 6, 2022 Denise Revel had a history of developing blood clots, so in 2011, when her leg grew painfully swollen and hot to the touch, she knew what to do. She headed for the emergency room. She recovered from the clot but could not pay the medical bill. Working as a fitness instructor, she had no health insurance. “I’ve always been financially challenged,” said Ms. Revel, 62, who lives with her daughter in Stockbridge, Ga.

Know someone who’s over 60 and feeling lonely? Help is just a phone call away. Purina Cat Chow has partnered with two non-profits in order to bring senior citizens some much-needed virtual therapy cat visits. Wait…that’s a thing? When we think of the term “therapy animal,” most of us are probably inclined to picture a dog. After all, canines dominate the therapy animal field at 94%. Felines, on the other hand, make up part of the other 6% (that’s combined with other animals). Anyone who has...

Loneliness is a serious problem. Loneliness is one of the most dangerous health problems in the United States, although it’s seldom discussed. Psychology Today says loneliness has the same mortality risks as obesity, smoking, alcoholism and physical inactivity. A meta-analysis from Brigham Young University found that social isolation may increase the risk of premature death by up to 50%. The problem with loneliness is that people suffer in silence and it afflicts the ones we don’t see. A...

Becca Levy, a psychologist, epidemiologist and professor at the Yale School of Public Health, argues that ageism can deleteriously affect one’s mental and physical health.Credit...Yehyun Kim for The New York Times Through more than three decades of research, the Yale psychologist Becca Levy has demonstrated that age discrimination can take years off one’s life. Published April 23, 2022Updated April 25, 2022 Each fall, Becca Levy asks the students in her health and aging class at the Yale...

Our faith in humanity has been restored! An older gentleman named Gene, who has dementia, sits outside his home nearly every day and waits for the school bus to drop off the neighborhood kids so he can say hello to them. A woman shared a clip of Gene via TikTok , explaining that every day Gene "makes his way outside, not even knowing why," but that something "every day tells him to go outside and wait." She also shared that "Mr. Gene's memory resets" about every 15 minutes, but he somehow...

By Paula Span, Photo: Brian Fraser/The New York Times, The New York Times, March 12, 2022 Felicia Biteranta was struggling when, five years ago, she enrolled in a PACE program operated by Lutheran Senior Life in Jersey City, N.J. Having suffered a stroke, she found it hard to eat without choking. She fell frequently; her diabetes was out of control; she had pulmonary disease and asthma. She might miss a medical appointment if she could not arrange or afford a taxi. Her family lived far away.

Please join us for our new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Dr. Porter Jennings-McGarity, PhD/LCSW, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being...

By Charlotte Naughton, Photo: Lydia Goldblatt/The Guardian, The Guardian, November 20, 2021 Ann is sitting in a windowless and sparsely furnished white room with high ceilings and a red concrete floor. There is a bed in the corner, next to shelves full of medical equipment. She seems small against the large black sofa, her hands clasped together to minimise the involuntary swaying caused by her Parkinson’s disease . She is in pain, she is tired and, for the first time that day, she is...

This was produced by KPJR Films, and edited by Jen Bradwell.

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