Five years ago, the spacious lobby of the Hotel Oakland was an echo chamber. A century ago the hotel was one of the nation’s most illustrious. Then the Great Depression crippled the majestic site, which became a military hospital during World War II. Located just outside Chinatown in Oakland, it eventually became affordable housing for Asian elders who spent most of their days home alone.
Chuck Epstein suffered two personal crises that dramatically changed his life. After more than three decades writing about finance, he was laid off during the 2008 financial services meltdown. Not long after that, his wife died of cancer.
When first planning a new concept in dementia living in The Netherlands, Yvonne Van Amerongen had trouble explaining that she wanted a real world village — not the sterile confines of a nursing home.
The San Francisco Bay Area has redefined everything from technology to sex and spirituality. Now it’s death’s turn. Starting Oct. 24 and continuing through Halloween, San Francisco hosts Re:Imagine | End of Life — more colloquially known as “Death Week” — a weeklong exploration and celebration of the dying process.
One floor beneath the exhibit for famed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum last month hosted the one-year anniversary of a unique collaborative – the first of its kind nationally – that unites creative aging professionals from the Bay Area.
From Death Cafes to conscious dying and California’s new assisted dying law, death seems to be a topic on everyone’s mind.
When the posh Mizell Senior Center in tony Palm Springs trumpeted the success of a new fall prevention program in the surrounding Coachella Valley last week, it was a lily white victory.
The Latino population is exploding, and without a true medical breakthrough, there are expected to be 1.1 million Latinos with Alzheimer’s nationwide by 2030 and a whopping 3.5 million with the disease by 2060 – an increase of more than 800% from the 379,000 estimated in 2012.
Carol Finkelstein’s elderly father Ted was causing trouble. His sexual desires and encroaching dementia collided with restrictions at a long-term care facility, making him even more combative. He pulled fire alarms, stole floor keys and once touched a female resident’s breast. He was kicked out.
Imagine you’re swimming in a muddy river, trying desperately to peer through the muck. You face a swirl of confusing obstacles. They have names like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, children, job, vacations, texting and a thousand other distractions. The muck is modern life.