When COVID-19 safety protocols shifted whole sectors of the healthcare industry from in-person visits to a telehealth model, Arjun and Hannah Verma watched their parents — a pulmonologist and a cardiologist — fret about some of their elderly patients who were unprepared for the switch. The e… Read Article Telemedicine: Montana’s digital divide
Carbon County is mostly rural. Coupled with its older population, and considering the current pandemic, social isolation worries Therese Picasso-Edwards. Read Article Carbon County, aiming to be age-friendly, aligns with national network
As longtime volunteers grow older, many want to take a step back to allow for more travel and leisure time. What will volunteer organizations do to fill the void, and how can we keep older volunteers active? Many communities are struggling to find an answer. Read Article Passing the volunteer torch
Who’s getting older? We all are. Yet denial, misinformation and fear often characterize this universal experience. Read Article Changing attitudes key to addressing ageism
Could senior cooperative housing, a model gaining popularity in states with aging populations, be the solution to alleviating social isolation and population loss in Montana’s rural small towns? Read Article A home of their own, together
It is not hard to associate aging adults with limited technological knowledge, nor is it difficult to understand that teens can jump onto a new device with ease. And anyone can understand that tech support in the form of automated chats or lengthy phone calls can lead to more stress than so… Read Article Making the connection: What technology, adults and teens have in common
“His mobile home was not livable,” said Missoula Aging Services (MAS) Resource Specialist Linda Howard, about a client she worked with in Seeley Lake. This was not a problem Howard or MAS had the resources to address directly, but she knew people who did. With the help of a local church, com… Read Article Building community from the inside: Aging in place, with help from a local who knows the ropes
In 2010, the Whitehall Senior Center, an activity and meals hub for seniors in Whitehall, was trying to unload a bus and a van it had been using to transport its patrons and residents of a nearby assisted-living home. The Montana Department of Transportation had designated the center that ar… Read Article Cracking the transportation bottleneck
Last week in Graying Pains, the Missoulian’s David Erickson examined the introduction and implementation of Kaigo Hoken, or care insurance, in Japan, the world’s demographically oldest country. This week’s conclusion of that story explores how a similar policy might translate to Montana, the… Read Article Could a Japanese-style elder care insurance program work in Montana?
This is part 1 of a two-part story about financing elder care in aging populations. Part 2 — what new strategies could Montana explore? — will be published next week. Read Article Japan: A glimpse at Montana's future?
Last week’s Graying Pains story explored the challenges of family farm succession as Montana’s agricultural demographic ages, and a program designed to connect up-and-coming farmers in western Montana. This week’s installment explores the same issue — and a community college proposal to addr… Read Article On-the-farm training: Gaining the knowledge, and confidence, to enter agriculture
The 68-year-old old poultry farmer pointed out the hen houses he built decades ago, providing details of each wooden tenement’s residents. Read Article Montana’s family farms, ranches face uncertain future as producers age out
As Montana’s aging population continues to grow (18.9% of Montanans are now 65 or older), rural residents face the same aging challenges as their urban counterparts but often with fewer resources. Read Article Low-cost classes help seniors stay fit
SEELEY LAKE — “Don’t bring in a rocker — I don’t need those kinds of things,” Pearl Hawkins told Seeley Lake Elementary preschool teacher Sheila Devins on her first day as a foster grandparent. “I’m going to get down in the beanbags with the kids.” Read Article Bringing knowledge, comfort to the classroom
On March 12, a collaboration of 16 Montana newsrooms launched the first story of a series titled Graying Pains, months in the making, exploring Montana’s status as the demographically oldest state west of the Mississippi. Read Article The return of 'Graying Pains' — Statewide reporting project on aging to relaunch
It looked like a lot of senior gatherings: a chatty group of folks, mostly in their 70s and 80s, with friends and family in a church basement, dining on quiche, pastries, fresh fruit, and other goodies. There was plenty of laughter, and a strong sense of camaraderie. Read Article For the rural elderly, it can take a village
People have been parsing the human lifespan into a taxonomy of ages forever. Aristotle proposed three categories: youthful, prime of life, and elderly. Two thousand years later, Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man carved human chronology into seven slices, with the body’s final frailty circling … Read Article How Montana became the West’s grayest state
