Hospital patients around the world were dying alone, separated from their loved ones whether or not they had COVID-19, because of visitation restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. So after she landed in the hospital with a broken hip, Parkinson’s disease and the coronavirus, 84-year-old Dorothy “Poogie” Wyatt Shields made a request of her children: “Bring me home.”
Tag: Older Women and Aging
In Nursing Homes, Women Nurses and Residents Desperate for Support
The spread of coronavirus in nursing homes disproportionately impacts women: Four out of five people in the senior living workforce, and over two-thirds of those living in nursing homes, are women.
Feminism, Aging and Discovering Senior Space
Media, books and the world at-large told me in my mid-sixties that I hadn’t really changed at all, that “sixty was the new forty.” I believed them, and I was shocked by my growing sense of confusion and disorientation.
To Menopause and Beyond
My personal journey through the transition we dare not discuss compels me to break the silence around menopause.
Taking a Life-Course Approach to Women’s Sexual Health
Today, on World Sexual Health Day, we must prioritize sexual wellbeing as a key component of sexual and reproductive health care—and we must include older women in the conversation.
Former Pennsylvania Lawmaker Admits He Sexually Assaulted His 103-Year-Old Mother-In-Law
Yup. You read that right.
Meryl Streep Boosts Over-40 Women Screenwriters
Back in 1986 Newsweek made a point of suggesting that for all practical purposes, women are dead at age 40. Women over 40, they wrote, are “more likely to be killed by a terrorist” than get married. And Newsweek had statistics to back it up: Women over 40, they claimed “have a minuscule 2.6 percent […]
What an Increasingly Older Population Means for Women
Within the next 10 years, the number of people over age 60 will surpass one billion, as the world’s population reaches between seven and eight billion. By 2050, the world’s 80-and-older population will nearly triple. The United States currently has the third highest number of older people (ages 60 and up), but many developing countries […]
Safer Sex After 50
A new study finds women over 50 want help negotiating safer sex and need better conversations about sex with healthcare providers. This follows reports of increases in STIs amongst those over 45 over the last few years. Gasp! Women over 50 have sex! And not just inside decades-long marriages! (Figured I’d get that out of […]
Super Committee: Don’t Leave Older Women and Their Families Behind!
Times are tough for hardworking Americans of all ages. But while it’s imperative that Congress look for a balanced approach (including revenues) to deficit reduction, it also needs to protect low- and middle-income elders who rely on programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, the Senior Community Service Employment Program and more. As […]