Caregiving

Support for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Resources in the San Francisco Bay Area

In The Warmth of Other Suns, a Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book from 2010, the writer, Isabel Wilkerson, documents the Great Migration, the wave of African-Americans moving north away from Jim Crow and sharecropping into the uncertain and fraught freedoms of the industrial north in the 1910s and 1920s. In it, she tells a story that is both familiar and jarring: that of grandparents raising grandchildren.

The 2018 Aging in America Conference Comes to San Francisco

When people step up and start talking, listening, and paying attention to the challenges that are easier to ignore, real change is already happening. The more hands and minds that get involved, the more we can do. Join us for AiA 2018, the Aging in America Conference, taking place at Hilton San Francisco Union Square Monday, March 26, through Thursday, March 29.

Tips for Hiring Overnight Care for an Elderly Loved One

Elena was exhausted. Ever since her father came home from the hospital after his heart surgery, she’d been tending to his every need to ensure he recovered fully. After a few weeks of providing him with around-the-clock care, Elena and her father decided it was okay to start leaving him on his own at night.

What Is the Average Age Seniors Stop Driving? Factors in Determining Older Driver Safety

All throughout his adult life, driving was a form of therapy for Dave, making him feel confident, independent, and in control. But when Dave turned 68, the way he’d felt about driving started to change. He felt his reflexes slow, his mobility decline, and his vision deteriorate to the extent that it began affecting his ability to drive. Driving quickly went from being his favorite activity to one that caused him a great deal of anxiety. Before he knew it, his children were sitting him down and talking to him about the need for him to give up his license.

Ultimate Winter Health Tips for Seniors in the Bay Area

It’s a rare and special thing to experience the change of seasons, and those of us who have lived many years and many seasons over have great wisdom to apply to these shifts. Even though our culture and economy want to keep pushing forward regardless of seasonal patterns, our bodies can’t help but feel those natural transitions. Especially in winter, our bodies want to slow down, regenerate, and store up energy for a fresh start come spring.

Hobbies for Seniors with Arthritis: Modifying Old Interests or Trying Something New

For seven years, I was a caregiver for an older woman with rheumatoid arthritis. She was happy to have me around to help her with the daily tasks that had become difficult, such as preparing her meals, decluttering the house, and even going through her mail and writing to her grandkids. But there were certain things she loved to do that just wouldn’t be the same if I did them for her. For example, she could no longer manage the fine brushwork on the models she used to paint, and she could no longer play the piano because her hands became sore quickly.

Senior Advocacy Services in San Francisco: What Do You Need and How Can You Find It?

Sometimes aging adults need someone to step up and advocate for them because of communication barriers and other disabilities. But it’s also true that our aging community needs proactive advocates because our own culture and social constructions tend to undermine the independence and dignity they deserve and underestimate the resources they should have access to.