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Thinking Policy
Within a decade, the U.S. population will consist of more adults over 65 than children under 18. To prepare for rapid population aging, Age-friendly Community (AFC) programs across the country are helping towns, cities, counties, and states transform their communities into great places to grow up…
“If it wasn’t for SNAP, I don’t know what we would do.” – 61-year-old AARP survey participant
As states and communities continue to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, many are left wondering what could be done to prevent large-scale destruction from such disasters. Despite the severity of those storms, they were only the most recent among several to sweep…
November is National Family Caregiver month — when we recognize and honor the 40 million family caregivers across this country .
I am a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, having deployed on two different ships four times to the then-war-torn country. I married the love of my life, Mary, after my first deployment in 1970. Looking back these 46 years, I am so glad I married early in life; it enabled us to have so many wonderful…
Fragility fractures are a common — but not inevitable — part of aging. These bone fractures, which occur during normal activities or following a fall, are a leading cause of pain, disability and loss of independence among older adults. Approximately half of all women and a quarter of all men age 50…
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer (next to skin cancer) and the second leading cause of death from cancer among men in the U.S. Due to the high risk of side effects associated with prostate cancer treatments, such as erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and fecal incontinence,…
After attending a 2011 U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing where my report on the cost of exploitation was quoted, I discussed the growing problem of financial exploitation with a banker. In minutes over a burger, we identified a way a family caregiver could watch over a loved one’s bank…
“He’s been in the hospital about 18 times over the past two years. Leaving the hospital the first time was particularly scary because he came home with drains from his wounds. They had to be cleaned frequently. I had a few lessons in the hospital, but I wasn’t prepared for doing it myself when we…
Can technology transform aging in America? It’s a compelling question, and in fact I recently participated in a panel discussion with that very title. The panel, hosted by Politico, discussed community-based care and technological innovations to help older adults age in their own homes and…
While family caregiving is an intensely personal issue, it is critically important to the well-being of our aging U.S. population, families and society — and must be taken seriously as a critical issue of public policy.
Social Security surfaces in the news regularly — in all kinds of ways. As summer 2016 wound down, news broke concerning an 80-year-old homeless woman named Wanda Witter who, after two decades of battle and with the support of AARP’s Legal Counsel for the Elderly, proved that the government owed her…
Two hundred twenty-eight years.
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