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May is Older Americans Month and this year’s theme is Get into the Act, highlighting how older Americans can take charge of their health and make a positive impact in the lives of others. Completing an advanced directive is one important way that older Americans can take charge, but millions…

Several years ago, Kayla, a professor in her late 50s, was in a terrible car accident. It took months for her to recover. Soon after she returned to work, she developed a staph infection, which left her immune system severely compromised. “I realized then how important it is to have…

Looking at Helen, you’d think 92 is the new 75. Spry, quick-witted, and intellectually curious, she believed, until recently, she could do it all. But when a pulled muscle in her leg turned out to be severe arthritis in her hip, she acknowledged, “Now I know that I can’t do…

Josef, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, never saw it coming. “I survived the Lodz Ghetto and three camp selections, but I didn’t see that a distant cousin who asked me to contribute to a special fund was stealing from me,” he said. Josef became so distraught that his Seniors At Home…

After Sylvia’s husband died, her friends tried to buoy her spirits by keeping her busy. Not a week went by when she wasn’t at the theater or symphony. But as time went on and invitations tapered off, Sylvia began feeling despondent. “I couldn’t shake this malaise,” she said. “My doctor…

The Bay Area, as well as the country as a whole, is facing a crisis in dementia care. Estimates are that one of every two people 85 and older in the Bay Area has some form of dementia, and that by 2020, the region will experience a 49% increase in…

“While family and caregivers are usually quick to address physical issues that seniors may be experiencing, such as arthritis, heart disease, or osteoporosis, there are many times when their psychosocial well-being is overlooked,” says Traci Dobronravova, MSW, Associate Director of Seniors At Home. “Loneliness and depression are chief among the…

In the quiet of the early morning, as she would sip her coffee and look out her kitchen window, Marsha P. would wax reflective: How do I want to live the rest of my life? What more do I want to accomplish? These were hypothetical questions, because Marsha, a longtime…

Laura and Marcia, next-door neighbors on a leafy suburban street for 50 years, were as close as sisters. Through the years, the women stood by each other during times of need—when they were widowed, when Laura’s son died unexpectedly, and when Marcia was recovering from breast cancer. When Marcia returned…

At 83, Mitzi was having the time of her life. Divorced many years before, the retired stockbroker juggled a full schedule that included several theater subscriptions, weekly card games, travel, book clubs, and frequent visits with her only child, Yvette, a psychiatric social worker. But when Yvette fell ill last…