Other Side of 50

My friend, let’s call him Alfred, who is in his 70s, has been trying to devise a system to alert his close contacts if something were to happen to him while he’s at home. He’s sensitive to the topic because his former girlfriend died in her home and it took over 48 hours for her [...]

I recently attended a presentation by a partnership specialist for the Los Angeles Regional Census Center. She met with a group of nonprofits to explain details of the upcoming 2020 Census and to express the importance of each household completing the census. According to AARP, older Americans have been more likely than other age groups [...]

Recognizing that California’s over-65 population is projected to grow to 8.6 million by 2030, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order recently calling for a Master Plan for Aging to be developed by Oct. 1, 2020. The master plan will serve as a blueprint for state government, local communities, private organizations and philanthropists to build [...]

Psychologist Abraham Maslow developed his famous “hierarchy of needs” theory in 1942. At the time, he saw food, water, sleep and shelter as the most basic of all human needs. I would contend electricity has now become a basic human need. Without electricity, it would be extremely difficult to lead our daily lives: We wouldn’t [...]

Recently, my coworkers and I have begun to see a spike in the number of seniors in our community who go days on end without human contact. Yet when asked if they’re lonely, they say no. These individuals are quite content with their daily schedule. In many cases, they’re proud of their independence—even if it [...]

I’ve never been a sports-oriented person. I’m not sure if it’s the required physical exertion or the competitive aspect that doesn’t excite me, but I’d much rather spend my days pursuing a host of other activities. So when my husband announced he wanted us to join a club and play pickleball, I was less than [...]

On weekends, my husband and I walk our dog, Rolo, together. Rolo is blind and deaf, but is a joyful 10-year-old pup in otherwise good health. Me, on the other hand, while I am in good health, I’ve been having some trouble hearing. On our dog walks, we traverse a busy road for a short [...]

My neighbor John has been collecting gold coins for the past 20 years. Upon buying a coin, he would place it in the safe deposit box he and his wife, Caitlin, rented at their bank. John put the gold there for an obvious reason: security. A thick steel door safeguards hundreds of stacked metal boxes. [...]

A few weeks ago, as he was walking his dog around his neighborhood, my friend Jerry experienced pain and pressure in his chest. He’d forgotten his cellphone, so he continued up the hill to his house, stopping four times to catch his breath before arriving home. Once he was inside the pain subsided, and he [...]

I recently visited New Hampshire to join my mother in celebrating her 85th birthday. While planning the visit, I asked my mother if she would like to go on a short trip with me—maybe a visit to Cape Cod or to Maine? My mother has temporarily lost her “partner in crime” for outings. My sister [...]