social isolation

The High Cost of Loneliness: The Other Price Older Adults Are Paying For Covid-19

For months, families and operators of long-term care facilities have been telling me about the indirect toll the covid-19 pandemic has taken on residents. Not on those who have sickened or died from the virus, but on those whose quality of life has been severely harmed by the social isolation it caused. Now, we are beginning to learn more about [...]

By |2021-03-25T11:08:27-04:00March 25th, 2021|nursing homes|0 Comments

An Inside Look At How Covid-19 Is Driving An Epidemic of Loneliness in Nursing Homes

What has it been like to live in a nursing home during the covid-19 pandemic? Because access to facilities is so limited, it is hard to know. But, for the first time, a survey of residents tells a grim story of loneliness and isolation: 90 percent said they never left their campus, 60 percent said they never even went outside [...]

By |2020-10-08T12:01:49-04:00October 8th, 2020|nursing homes|5 Comments

 The Grim Post-COVID-19 Future For Nursing Homes

Someday, most of us will return to life before COVID-19. Nursing homes will not. The deaths of more than 16,000 of their residents from COVID-19 has profoundly disrupted senior living facilities--especially nursing homes-- and will drive historic change in the industry. Robert Kramer, president of the consulting firm Nexus Insights and a long-time observer of nursing home finances, told me, [...]

By |2020-05-04T11:22:15-04:00May 4th, 2020|nursing homes|8 Comments

How To Reduce Loneliness In Old Age

Isolation and loneliness are serious problems for older adults. They become less mobile, their friends and relatives die, hearing loss and other physical limitations make it harder to communicate with others, and seniors are often reluctant to even try to make new friends. Young people, they say, are not interested, and, as for other older people, why bother, they will [...]

By |2018-03-22T17:43:19-04:00March 22nd, 2018|aging in place|7 Comments

The Risks Of Social Isolation For Older Adults

Socially-isolated older adults are likely to be sicker and die sooner, and have higher health care expenses, than seniors who retain their social connections. A new study by researchers from the AARP Public Policy Institute, Stanford University, and Harvard finds that Medicare spends an estimated $6.7 billion more each year on seniors who have little social contact with others. About [...]

By |2018-02-14T12:43:53-05:00November 29th, 2017|aging in place|8 Comments