GBONEWS: Ageism Meets Ableism in Mother Jones; Lahaina Fires; MS Tornados; Disastrous Fed Cuts; Old and Homeless; Top Tech Experts with Robots; A Pulitzer and Honors Galore; Old Oligarchs vs the Billionaires; & MORE.
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations.
May 15, 2026 — Volume 33, Number 4
EDITOR’S NOTE: GBONews, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. If you have difficulty getting to the full issue of GBONews with the links provided below, simply go to www.gbonews.org to read the latest or past editions. Send your news of stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. [pfkleyman@gmail.com]. To subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge, simply send a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. For each issue, we’ll email the table of contents and links to the full issue at www.gbonews.org. GBONews does not provide its list to other entities.
In This Issue: Age responsibly. Need not be 65+.
1. THE STORYBOARD: Lahaina Fires, MS Tornados and Disastrous Fed Cuts, Oh My!:
*** “New Frontiers of Aging” on Ageism and Ableism, by Julia Métraux, Mother Jones;
*** “Lahaina seniors take care of each other after fires,” by Yiming Fu, AsAmNews;
*** “Nowhere to Run: When tornadoes strike at night, older Americans face the greatest risk,” by LaReeca Rucker, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal;
*** Innovations in Care Series (Attendant Care; AI’s ElliQ Robot) by Mark Swartz, Aging in America News;
*** Burmese Eldercare Series (Navigating Parkinson’s; Dementia’s Economic-Emotional Marathon), by SweSwe Aye, Myanmar Gazette / American Community Media;
*** Rural Tele-Health Series (Reaching Rural Texas) by Madeline de Figueiredo, The Daily Yonder rural news service);
*** “This yearlong program for grandparents raising children strengthens communities for decades,” by Ellen Eldridge, Georgia Public Broadcasting;
*** “Senior ride programs in Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach in need of volunteers,” by Liz Gotthelf, Massachusetts’ Saco Bay News.
* PLUS: A Fellowship Bonus for You—Our Vaccine Webinar Now on YouTube
2. NO PLACE TO GROW OLD: *** “The Fastest-Growing Homeless Demographic,” by Karen Fischer, Aging in America News: *** LA Mental Health Solution Sparks Sense of Purpose, by Lee Romney, KQED’s“California Report Weekly Magazine.”
3. GEN BEATLES NEWS: *** Former Age-Beatle Pete Eisler on Reuters Pulitzer Prize Team; ***JoNel Aleccia’s last day at the AP; *** WSJ’s Carol Hymowitz Retires, Shifts Focus; *** Sarah Boden goes investigative on Infectious disease; *** Rich Eisenberg awarded for MarketWatch story on hospital costs.
4. GRAY WATCH: *** “An Oligarchy of Old People,” by Idrees Kahloon, The Atlantic (April 13, 2026): The Dek – “How elderly Americans amassed disproportionate wealth and power.”
1. THE STORYBOARD
Lahaina Fires, Miss. Tornados and Disastrous Fed Cuts, Oh My!
Editor’s note: The copy has been flooding in from this year’s Journalists Aging in Fellows with Trump Administration cuts to Medicaid and other life-preserving programs for elders and those with disabilities seeping in as a key word for 2026. Mother Jones’ first disability reporter takes on the lack of trained care providers for those aging with disabling conditions. AsAmNews (Asian American News) exposes Trump Administration’s FEMA failure for older Filipinos burned out in Lahaina. Plus tornado preparedness in Mississippi; Burmese elders with Parkinson’s or dementia in LA; what top tech experts say about aging with AI; our YouTube webinar on vaccine impacts for older adults, and MORE.
The Journalists Aging in Fellows Program, now in its 16th year, is the collaboration of GBONews publisher, the Journalists Network on Generations, and the Gerontological Society of America.
*** “The New Frontiers of Aging,” by Julia Métraux, Mother Jones (April 30, 2026): The Dek – “People with conditions like HIV and brain trauma are now living far longer—and revealing gaps in medical research and training.”
Little Training Worsened by Cuts: “As people with complex immune and neurological conditions age into their 60s and 70s, their lifespans are now often extending beyond the expectations of their doctors—and the design of the systems meant to support them. Health care professionals in most fields typically receive little training in disability, less in aging, and virtually none at the intersection of the two. And as federal Medicaid cuts reduce access to the home-and community-based services some aging disabled people depend on, many rely for their survival on networks of personal connections: siblings, spouses, neighbors.”
The Stats: “The population at stake is not small. According to the Census’ 2024 American Community Survey, more than 7.5 million people living outside of institutions over the age of 65 have a disability that makes living independently difficult, over a tenth of that age group. As disabled people with complex health issues live longer, that number will grow. And it will grow during a period when home- and community-based services will be cut across every state as a consequence of sweeping attacks on, and reductions to, Medicaid services.”
Life Consequences: “Brason Lee’s introduction to life with a disability was sudden. At 18, he was riding his motorcycle without a helmet in San Diego . . . . Lee went on to pursue an undergraduate degree, then a master’s, facing tremendous cognitive challenges and lifestyle adjustments on the way…. Now 63, Lee has developed a set of strategies for navigating daily life with his injury. . . . But Lee now confronts newer cognitive issues, and faces fresh difficulties in trying to understand which stem from regular aging and which are long-term consequences of his traumatic brain injury. The difference in best-practice treatment could be major.”
A Quote: “Michelle Putnam, director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, described a compounding dynamic: many disabled people are excluded, earlier in their lives, from environments where adult relationships are normally built. ‘For younger people with disabilities, they may have had difficulty getting into those pathways in the first place because they didn’t have employment or had trouble having access into groups and organizations. For aging people with multiple disabilities, that can mean a more limited social fabric at exactly the time when it’s most needed.’”
And: “‘What we can say pretty clearly is that in health care in particular, there is very limited education or training of any professional at any level of care specific to aging,’ Putnam told me. ‘And there’s very, very little specific to disability.’”
System Gaps: “Senior centers, a legacy of the Johnson administration’s Great Society initiative, address some of those needs: training for caregivers, support with public benefits, and potential training sites ‘for health education and caregiver support programs,’ [said Cecilia Poon, chair of the American Psychological Association’s committee on aging]. But the overall gap in community support for aging disabled people is matched by gaps in how the health care system itself is equipped to treat them.”
Research: “A broader dynamic [was] examined in a 2024 study in the journal Gerontologist: the link between ageism and ableism. Surveying nearly a thousand people, researchers found that ageism was associated with ableism, including among older adults who had internalized ageist beliefs about themselves. Positive feelings toward older adults were associated with lower rates of ableism—suggesting that those forms of discrimination are mutually reinforcing, and that efforts to reduce one may help reduce the other. ‘Public policy initiatives to address community-level interventions and targeted training to inform discourse about ageism and ableism are critical,’ the researchers wrote.”
*** “Lahaina seniors take care of each other after fires,” by Yiming Fu, Report for America corps member,AsAmNews, (“Devoted to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, May 6, 2026): The Lede — “Busaba Yip wakes up at 4 a.m. every morning. She lays horizontally on her mattress and starts her qi gong ritual, tapping different acupoints on her body to boost qi flow. ‘That’s what I learned after the Lahaina fire,’ Yip said. ‘I need to take care of myself.’”
The Club: “Yip leaves the house at 6 a.m. to wait for the black, white and hot pink senior services transit bus. Once a month, the bus takes her to the Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO) center in Wailuku, where Yip attends the Lahaina-Honolua Senior Citizens’ Club. . . . Nearly three years after the Lahaina fires, seniors gather at the club’s temporary location to hear Lahaina fire recovery updates, connect with resources, catch up with other members and participate in activities like calligraphy. . . . Three days after the August 8, 2023 Lahaina fires, Hedy Udarbe started reaching out to the club’s estimated 65 members at the time. . . Some members suffered burns on their face and arms. Some members saw relatives and friends lose their lives. . . .The West Maui Senior Center, where the senior citizens’ club met, burned down.”
Scattered: “After the fires, the Lahaina seniors were scattered all across Maui, sometimes living with their families and sometimes not. Most found housing through FEMA. . . . The fires hit Lahaina seniors hard. More than two-thirds of the 102 confirmed victims of the 2023 Maui fires were over the age of 60. Many Lahaina senior housing facilities and Lahaina’s senior center, which housed community spaces and daily classes, also burned down in the fires.”
Two Challenges: “Shannon K. I’i is a generational Lahaina resident and the program director for Our Kūpuna. The program connects Lahaina kūpuna (elders) with volunteers who deliver food bags once every two weeks and help seniors with other needs. I’i said two big challenges kūpuna face in wildfire recovery is fixed income and family members moving away due to the high cost of living.”
Ageism/Ableism: “Jackie Keefe, a West Maui community organizer, said Maui’s wildfire recovery process has been ageist and ableist. Keefe gives credit to Maui’s disaster case managers, who often have over 50 clients to check in with. But, she’s heard case managers express harmful ideas about people recovering from disasters, such as ‘they have to really want it for themselves.’” She added, “‘Yes, they do need to want it for themselves,’ Keefe said. ‘But also they can’t do it alone.’”
“Frank Perry, the director of Lahaina’s Veteran’s Hall, cut ties with his disaster case manager after the case manager demanded electronic copies of all his paperwork and refused to meet in person. Perry said it’s challenging for him to use a computer and asked multiple times to meet in person — to no success.
“You guys say you’re going to help the kūpuna, the kūpuna need help, and that’s the ones that have been here the longest, like my mother in law, 92-years-old, and she has no help at all. But they don’t want to hear this,” Perry said. Lahaina kupuna Narciso Billanor, also known as ‘Uncle Jimmy,’ lives in FEMA housing on top of Lahaina’s Fleming Rd. To continue staying in FEMA housing, fire survivors need to show proof every month that they are looking for long-term housing. Billanor, who uses an oxygen ventilator, said it’s hard for him to look for long-term housing. He feels frustrated with FEMA employees who pester him for documents while not helping him.
FEMA After and Before: “Marcie Roth served as President Barack Obama’s senior FEMA advisor for disability issues and created the FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination in 2010. . . Roth hired a cadre of over 200 FEMA disability specialists, who deployed more than 400 times to advise governors, mayors and local disaster response teams. . . Disability specialists provided ground transportation, sign language and other language interpretation. . . The Trump administration disbanded Roth’s office.”
A Quote: “Roth . . . said, “As long as we continue to fail to center the leadership, the expertise, the wisdom, of older people, of people with disabilities, we’re not only harming them, we’re harming every community.” . . . Nearly three years after the Lahaina fires, Udarbe said about 75% of the club’s seniors are back in town. . . . ‘I feel sad that people take advantage of their vulnerability,’ Udarbe said. ‘I look at it as senior abuse.’ Investors from outside Lahaina also keep knocking on seniors’ doors, Udarbe said, offering up to $1 million for their land. But so far, the members have said no. They want to keep what’s theirs. “
Update: “While there’s still no word on the senior center’s recovery, . . . Maui County opened Kaunoa Senior Services at Lahaina’s newly-opened YMCA facility in November, 2025. Seniors can gather each morning at the YMCA for coffee, resources and to connect with each other. . . . Udarbe is now the president of the Lahaina-Honolua Senior Citizens’ Club with 103 members and counting. Every month she brings in different resources to inform seniors on topics from self-care to reporting fraudulent contractors. After the club meeting, many of the seniors love to play bingo together.”
*** “Nowhere to Run: When tornadoes strike at night, older Americans face the greatest risk,” by LaReeca Rucker, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (April 4, 2026):
The Lede: “For Brittany Oshkeshequoam, . . . it’s been almost a year since she lost her mother, Carol Shinn Welborn, 72, to a tornado in Jasper County. Welborn was the storm’s only fatality on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Stringer, a small community of fewer than 2,000 residents near Bay Springs and Laurel. . . . Older adults often face physical and health . . . [with] limited mobility because of medical conditions and rely on wheelchairs or walkers. Chronic illness and persistent pain can make it difficult to leave home quickly when evacuation is necessary, leaving some unable to react within the brief window tornado warnings provide. Hearing loss or vision problems can also create barriers, preventing some older adults from hearing tornado sirens, television alerts, or noticing warning messages on their phones. For individuals experiencing dementia or confusion, the urgency of seeking shelter may not be fully understood.”
The Research: “Jennifer First, Ph.D., an associate professor of social work at the University of Missouri, . . . is now preparing a research proposal that examines how older adults are affected by these storms. . . . One of First’s latest endeavors is a National Science Foundation research project examining participants aged 65 and older. . . . First said tornadoes have a typical warning period of only eight to 13 minutes.”
Protections: “Jordan Hall, a multimedia journalist and drone pilot who covers extreme weather, has chased storms in Mississippi . . . . Hall said some lower-income communities he’s visited in Mississippi do not have tornado sirens. . . . While many local Mississippi communities have taken measures to install more public storm shelters, . . . studies have shown that local and national emergency response teams could lower weather-related fatalities by encouraging communities to take a more proactive role in helping vulnerable residents, particularly older adults, before and during severe weather.”
*** Innovations in Care Series: *Part 1— “A New Path for Attendant Care,” by Mark Swartz, Aging in America News(March 31, 2026): The Lede – “For Darrell Johnson, a case manager at CICOA — the Area Agency on Aging serving central Indiana — the old way of connecting elderly clients to home care services was a paper-and-phone-call slog that could eat up a week of his time. ‘I would have to figure out what companies provided assessments. … I would have to call each one, write down the information — their email, their phone number — compile all that, type it into an email, and send it to the client.’ In Indiana, prior authorization assessments . . . are required before attendant care kicks in.”
What: “Duett is a referral marketplace — a platform that sits between Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and the home care providers they contract with, automating a matching process that was previously done through directories, phone trees, and guesswork. It began when Jonathan Haag, CICOA’s vice president of innovation and administration, and his colleague Chad Bales recognized that case managers were spending enormous time chasing providers one by one, often coming back to clients with a single option — or none. The research team set out to find an existing tool that could solve this. When nothing adequate existed, they built one. Courtney Baldridge, Director of Business Development at USAging — the national membership organization for the country’s 618 Area Agencies on Aging — describes it in terms that resonate across the industry: ‘It’s almost like speed dating with your service providers to see who’s the best person to serve Mrs. Jones as quickly as possible.’”
Timing Against Cuts: “Duett launched at CICOA in 2021 and has since expanded to five AAAs in Indiana, with approximately 500 home care agencies and around 10,000 referrals processed through the platform. USAging announced a formal partnership with Duett earlier this year to help bring the tool to AAAs nationwide, with pilot slots for agencies outside Indiana currently being filled. The timing is not incidental. Federal Medicaid cuts loom as a near-term threat to the funding that undergirds much of the care the AAA network provides. Baldridge is direct about what that means for organizations already operating on thin margins: ‘If we can drive cost savings to an agency, they can turn around and do more with their existing resources.’”
*Part 2 – “AI Enters the Elder Care Arena” (April 14, 2026): The Lede — “When The New York Times published a feature in February about an 85-year-old woman living alone on the Washington coast and the AI robot that had become her companion, the response was immediate and wide.
Readers were moved by Jan Worrell’s story — her stubbornness, her grief, her gradual warming to the device called ElliQ that sat on her coffee table, danced to Dolly Parton songs, recorded her life stories and leaned into her hand, glowing pink. . . . ElliQ was not new. The Israeli startup Intuition Robotics had been developing and deploying it for nearly a decade, and the Times had covered it before.
But Eli Saslow’s intimate feature brought it to a different kind of attention. The technology arrives in the popular imagination at the same moment that millions of Americans are beginning to confront, in the most personal terms, what it means to grow old in a country that is running short of the people and resources needed to care for them.”
The Challenges: “The professional caregiving workforce was already strained before the pandemic; it has not recovered since. An immigration crackdown is removing workers from a sector that, by some estimates, relies on undocumented labor for nearly a quarter of its institutional workforce. Private equity’s aggressive entry into the nursing home industry has further reduced staffing in facilities that serve some of the most vulnerable older adults. And the economics of aging mean that the people most in need of support are often the least able to pay for it. Into that gap, with considerable fanfare and considerable investment, has come artificial intelligence.”
The Experts: “Mike Cantor has watched that arrival from an unusual vantage point. A geriatrician by training, he was chief medical officer at Intuition Robotics, the company behind ElliQ. He is an enthusiast, but a careful one. He argues that technologies like ElliQ are a serious response to a serious problem.”
José Ramos “a Puerto Rican-born entrepreneur, who . . . served as chief technical officer at Northrop Grumman’s health division, Ramos now leads a small research team developing AI solutions for elder care under the platform name UberCare.”
“Laurie Orlov . . . a former Forrester Research analyst, . . . founded Aging and Health Technology Watch in 2006 . . . returns to the practical questions that excitement tends to obscure. Where can you buy it? Who is the buyer? What is the distribution model? What is the price?”
*** Burmese Eldercare Series: *Part 1: “The ‘Levodopa Paradox’ — How One Family is Navigating Parkinson’s,”by SweSwe Aye, Myanmar Gazette/American Community Media (March 31, 2026): The Lede – “For four decades, U Kyi Wong, [89],was defined by his sharp intellect and unyielding persistence. A Burmese schoolteacher fluent in English, Burmese, and Mandarin, he was a man who built his life on communication and activity. But in 2006, Wong noticed a slight tremor in his hands. . . . Wong, ever the scholar, had already researched his symptoms and self-diagnosed: Parkinson’s Disease (PD). . . . As the disease progressed, the physical weakness was joined by a more invisible and terrifying enemy: visual hallucinations and dementia.”
Care Cuts: “While Medicare Part B provides a pathway for those who meet ‘medical necessity’ (significant symptoms despite oral meds), the treatment’s long-term outlook is also clouded by passage of the Big Beautiful Bill (HR1), which significantly cut healthcare funding and restricted Medicare’s ability to negotiate prices for certain high-cost drugs. Patients without coverage can expect to pay upwards of $2500 per week for the treatment.”
Research: “While medication is the primary treatment for Parkinson’s, recent research in The Lancet emphasizes that a multidisciplinary approach is now essential. . . There is also new research from China’s Sun Yat-sen University, which is investigating “precision delivery” systems and Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU) to safely open the blood-brain barrier.”
*Part 2: An Economic and Emotional Marathon: Dementia Caregiving in Today’s America,” (March 31, 2026): The Lede – “For San San Tint, a typical morning is a delicate high-stakes exercise in clinical precision. Feeding her 89-year-old father, U Kyi Wong, is not just about nutrition; it is about survival. . . . According to recent data from AARP, caregiving has transitioned from a temporary family duty into a multi-year ‘marathon.’”
*** Rural Tele-Health Series: * “Part 1: Hands-On Telehealth Helps Reach Rural Texas Communities,” by Madeline de Figueiredo, The Daily Yonder news service on rural issues (March 30, 2026):
The Facts: “A shipping container in Fort Davis is at the center of a new experiment in bringing telehealth to an aging rural population. Perched in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, Jeff Davis County faces steep barriers to care. Nearly one in five residents lacks reliable broadband. The only doctor in Fort Davis, the county seat, is semi-retired, and most people make the 30-minute drive to Alpine for care.”
A Solution: “With a median age of 58, among the highest in the country, the need for consistent medical care is growing, even as access, both in-person and virtually, remains a challenge. The retrofitted 40-foot container houses the new Davis Mountain Clinic in Fort Davis, a telehealth hub created through a partnership between Texas A&M and Texas Techuniversities to connect residents with remote medical and mental health professionals.”
A Quote: “‘People who live in rural areas are older, sicker, and poorer than people who live in urban areas. Because of that, there are absolutely practical applications for telehealth and its clinical applications,’ said Billy U. Philips, PhD, the former executive vice president of the The F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health.’”
* “Part 2: Hands-On Telehealth Helps Reach Rural Texas Communities” (April 1, 2026): The Lede – “For some rural Texans, the closest link to a doctor may now be the local library. Across the state, libraries are helping residents, particularly older adults, access telehealth appointments and digital health tools in communities where clinics, broadband, and transportation remain limited. Telehealth has emerged as a key tool for improving health care access for older adults in rural communities, where long travel distances, physician shortages and higher rates of chronic illness are common.”
The Upshot: “A broader state initiative [is] aimed at helping libraries bridge the digital divide by providing devices, connectivity support, and digital skills assistance to underserved residents. . . . By providing private telehealth rooms, medical monitoring equipment, and guidance from staff, libraries are stepping into a role once reserved for clinics, helping residents manage chronic conditions and stay connected to care without leaving their communities.”
*** “This yearlong program for grandparents raising children strengthens communities for decades,” by Ellen Eldridge, Georgia Public Broadcasting, (March 2, 2026): The Dek – “Grandparents raising their grandchildren due to absentee parents are eligible for a year of support and intervention through a program at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health.” The full written story ran along with a brief broadcast “Listen” that announced the university’s support program.
The Facts: “In Georgia, 93,000 grandparents are raising almost 125,000 grandchildren, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey. In Clayton, Fulton and DeKalb counties alone, almost 16,000 grandparents are raising 26,000 grandchildren. Susan Kelley founded Project Healthy Grandparents in 1995 as a community service and research study that has served nearly 3,800 grandparents and grandchildren in those metro Atlanta counties. The PHG program is now housed . . . at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health and its Center for Leadership in Disability, and serves about 35 to 40 families every year.”
Rising Over 60: “Though the population of grandparents acting as primary caregivers to their grandchildren is shrinking in size overall, the number of grandparent caregivers age 60 and older is increasing, according to a University of Pittsburg study that data from the 2009-2021 U.S. Census American Community Survey.”
Coping With Cuts: “In the beginning, Georgia State University provided a significant amount of funding, but as those funds dwindle, and state and federal funds are cut, foundation and individual donor support is keeping PHG going. In the past year, one of their state contracts was cut by 40%, which is a significant amount of money, Lawrence said, noting that she is applying for a research grant to see if a shorter program is as effective and would allow them to support more families.”
*** “Senior ride programs in Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach in need of volunteers,” by Liz Gotthelf, Massachusetts’ Saco Bay News (April 30, 2026): The Lede — “If there’s a medical complex within 20 miles of Saco, MA, chances are Linda Verville, medical transportation coordinator for Age Friendly Saco knows where it is. . . Verville coordinates a program through which volunteers provide free rides to Saco residents 60 or older to medical appointments. Last year alone, Age Friendly Saco volunteers provided 1400 medical rides using their own cars, and their own gas. They drove 13,989 miles and dedicated 1,278 hours of time.
Expanded Volunteer Service: “After establishing a ride program in its home city, Age Friendly Saco received grant money to help . . . [two other communities create] similar ride programs. . . The Old Orchard Beach ride program launched in early 2024. . . . Volunteer Transportation Service Rides Coordinator David Guay said volunteers in 2025 drove 4,000 miles, and as of mid-March, the number of miles was already at 2,000 for 2026. Mona Grandbois, transportation director and coordinator for Age Friendly Biddeford, . . . said in March that since its inception, the Biddeford ride program had provided 945 rides to medical appointments. She said there were 1,326 requests for rides, and 136 rides did not happen because there wasn’t a driver.”
Coordination: “Volunteers for the local medical ride programs are interviewed and vetted. Coordinators in all three communities stress that all volunteers help at their own availability. . . . One aspect that sets the three local ride programs apart from other programs is that volunteers don’t just drop off the person at the appointment and take off. They wait while the client is seeing their care provider and then drive them home, so the client doesn’t have to find another ride.”
* A Fellowship Bonus for You, Too: “High-Value Investment in Vaccines: Impact on Our Lives and Communities,” was an illuminating webinar, now on YouTube, by the Journalists Aging in Fellows Program, a collaboration of GBONews publisher, the Journalists Network on Generations, and the Gerontological Society of America (March 26, 2026, 57 minute with slides and transcript showing). Produced live by my colleagues and fellowship program co-directors, Todd Kluss of GSA, and Liz Seegert, of JNG, the program is a great resource for reporters wanting expert sources on vaccinations for older adults.
Speakers: * Elana Kieffer Blass, MBA, Director of Strategic Alliances, Gerontological Society of America (also moderating), discussed GSA’s work in the adult vaccine landscape and GSA’s recently launched Concentric Value of Vaccination platform — an initiative to expand the dialogue around vaccines not only for individual protections, but also to recognize vaccines’ “far-reaching value to communities and society.”
* Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS, Chief Science Policy Officer, Global Healthy Living Foundation (GHLF), summarizes their new report, “Influenza’s Economic Burden and the Impact of Adult Vaccination,” showing that adult influenza vaccination is associated with substantial reductions in mortality and economic burden.
* Abby Bownas, MA, Manager, Adult Vaccine Access Coalition and a partner in NVG LLC, explored policy considerations and developments to follow moving forward.
A Fact: Popovian’s influenza study examined the incidence of mortality and morbidity and hospitalizations. He stated, “Not only we would have relieved 8,000 lives, but based on our economic analysis, we would have saved $3 billion in 2024, if we had . . . peak levels of influenza vaccination.” He added, “If we had were able to vaccinate patients in 2024, based on the high-peak vaccination levels that we had seen prior in prior years, we would have avoided 8,000 deaths and we would have saved $3 billion.”
A Word About our Sponsors: JNG and GSA are most grateful to our funders for the 2025-26 Journalists in Aging Fellowships are the Silver Century Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, The John A. Hartford Foundation, and National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation (NIHCM), as well as a donation from gerontologist John Migliaccio, PhD.
2. NO PLACE TO GROW OLD
*** “The Fastest-Growing Homeless Demographic,” by Karen Fischer, Aging in America News (May 6, 2026): The Lede: “At her core, Yolanda Pope is a nurse, and the entire reason she pursued that career path is her passion for working with older adults. But as the years went by working in the health care system, she saw a stark disconnect for many of her older patients: If they were experiencing homelessness, they couldn’t manage their chronic conditions.”
Her Solutions: “Pope launched DAP Services and Resources in Lansing, Mich., in October 2021, to provide intensive case management for underserved elderly. In January 2025, she launched the Senior Stability Program, with the goal of sheltering older clients . . . manage their chronic diseases, but she quickly found that the typical framework to do so relies on hotels, which are expensive for a small nonprofit. That led her to launch the Harbor House, a transitional shelter in a home-like setting in November 2025.”
Public Misperception: “In 2024, over half of Americans saw alcohol, drug use, and mental illness as drivers of homelessness. . . . If one sees someone using intravenous drugs on the street, the subconscious narrative may become that homelessness is a personal choice. But in reality, a good deal of homelessness is invisible . . . . According to the Government Accountability Office, in 2024 one in five people experiencing homelessness was 55 and older. Older people have wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility limitations that make navigating homeless shelters extremely difficult.”
No Place to Grow Old: “In 2024 Davey Schaupp, a documentary filmmaker, explored how older Americans are experiencing homelessness in the 50-minute film “No Place to Grow Old.” Schaupp profiles three adults over 55 living in Portland; two lost their housing due to predatory home equity loans and rent hikes. ‘Older adults are the fastest-growing homeless demographic because their incomes are stabilized, and they can’t go back to college and get a degree,’ Schaupp says ‘By 2030, the number of older adults experiencing homelessness will triple.’”
Got Rent?: “Retired workers are the largest slice of people who receive Social Security today, and the average monthly payment that a retired worker receives is $2,079. Meanwhile, the median rent for a studio apartment throughout the country is $1,393. Experts cite high costs and limited affordable housing supply as the biggest drivers of homelessness. California, New York, and Massachusetts are the states with the highest percentage of homelessness.
A Quote: “No one is moving fast enough, and America is aging rapidly,” Schaupp says. “We’re on track for elder homelessness to get worse unless . . . local or federal governments step in and do something.”
GBONews Note: Schaupp produced the film through the Portland-based nonprofit, Humans for Housing, which is screening this beautifully shot and moving documentary around the country in conjunction with local nonprofit advocates for unhoused elders. To receive a Vimeo screening link for No Place to Grow Old, contact Humans for Housing’s Founder & Executive Director, Michael Larson, (425) 903-2078; Michael@humansforhousing.org.
*** “A Los Angeles Woman Was Lost. An Ambitious Mental Health Program Gave Her a Sense of Purpose,” by Lee Romney, KQED’s “California Report Weekly Magazine” (April 24, 2026): The Lede — “When Mignon Poon strode into the small clubhouse kitchen in Hollywood on a morning in late November, a lunch recipe waited on the table: for barbecued chicken, mac and cheese and collard greens. She pulled on a pair of hygienic gloves and, with Motown vibes wafting from a Bluetooth speaker, got to work with two fellow members of the clubhouse, called Fountain House Hollywood, chatting and singing along as they cooked. For Poon, 66, this easy camaraderie was nearly unimaginable just three years ago.”
GBONews Recommendation: One of the finest examples of solutions journalism on aging and poverty to come along in years, this article and especially the full 30-minute podcast is must listening for journalists covering homelessness, mental illness and related issues. This editor cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s a perfect audio/text companion to No Place to Grow Old.
3. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Peter Eisler was “out walking the dog when my phone started blowing up.” He and his Reuter’s team had just won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, says the awards website, “for documenting how the president used the U.S. government and the influence of his supporters to expand executive power and exact vengeance on his foes.”
He emailed GBONews, “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, and a bit surreal, to be honest. We had no idea we were in the running (I wasn’t even watching the announcements . . . .)” An investigative and enterprise journalist at Reuters since 2015, with colleagues Ned Parker, Linda So and Mike Spector.
Eisler did superb investigative reporting on the home care and related issues at USA Today/Gannet, beginning in the late 1990s, helping to establish issues in aging as worthy of in-depth journalism, beyond the usual centenarian birthday party. He observed in an email, “I always felt the ‘aging’ beat was so important, given our societal demographics and all the critical issues that need to be covered in that world. It used to be that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid were the only policy issues anyone considered important for older folks. Now, we realize there are so many other important topics for that population (my population!) that deserve dedicated coverage.”
He allowed, a bit wistfully, that the Pulitzer Prize provides “a nice capstone at this late point in my career.” But Eisler anticipated that soon enough “everything will be just as it was, with my editors bugging me about why I’m late handing in a draft for my next story.” The newsbeat goes on.
* And: One of the two named Pulitzer Prize Finalists relevant to concerns in aging was ProPublica’s team of Debbie Cenziper, Megan Rose and Brandon Roberts. Honored for Investigative Reporting, they exposed “how the Food and Drug Administration allowed the import of generic drugs from foreign factories that violated safety standards – with potentially lethal consequences for unsuspecting Americans.”
For Explanatory Reporting, The Staff of Bloomberg was named en masse as a finalist “for reporting on a new generation of so-called ‘revolutionary’ cancer drugs that revealed how pharmaceutical companies, lobbyists and medical entrepreneurs have reaped huge profits while failing to show that the drugs have extended people’s lives.”
*** Health Writer JoNel Aleccia posted, May 1, “Today’s my last day with The Associated Press. I am among dozens of colleagues who accepted a buyout offer from the company this week. It marks the abrupt end of my 3.5 years at the wire service – and also the end of my nearly 42-year career in daily journalism.”
She’s worked with of such news organizations as msnbc.com, NBC News.com, the Seattle Times and Kaiser Health News. Aleccia, based in Temecula, Calif., added, “I have been so lucky to do this important work. Ask anyone who knows me how fiercely I have loved covering my beats: food safety, nutrition, obesity, aging, medicine, science, public health. It’s hard to stop. I have new projects ahead, reporting and other things.”
*** “How I Became Less Ambitious—and Happier—in Retirement,” by Carol Hymowitz, Wall Street Journal (April 14, 2026): Who: A Bloomberg Editor at Large until she retired shortly before turning 70, in 2017, Carol Hymowitz, recalls, “I never really stopped working. Instead of swapping work for play, I became a freelance writer, a part-time journalism professor and a research fellow at a university.”
Previously a long-time journalist at the WSJ and Forbes, she writes, “I was as ambitious for career success as I had ever been, finding comfort in knowing I always had an answer when I was asked, ‘What do you do?’”
Oh-Oh!: “Then last year, I was forced to stop. I fractured my right arm, wrist and elbow. . . . Then, a month later, I had a heart attack—a mild one, fortunately—which was diagnosed as being caused by anxiety. And what was I anxious about? . . . . But I also started taking notice of friends who had chosen a less-driven path.”
What She Learned: “Says Ruth Finkelstein, executive director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College in New York, ‘It takes a recovery process to be able to enter a chapter that’s defined differently.’” Hymowitz continued, “It was a choice, I realized, between ambition and time for fun, between continuing to advance in my career, and letting go. I chose the latter. I went on a three-week-long, adventurous trip overseas, and I have had no regrets. . . .
she added, “What’s more, I’m taking advantage of one of the gifts of retirement, which is being able to try things I don’t excel at . . . . Now, when I’m asked at gatherings how I’m spending my time, I say, ‘I’m dancing.’”
*** Sarah Boden, a frequent contributor to NPR’s “All Things Considered,” announced that she’s started a new job as an investigative reporter for CIDRAP News at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP). “I’ll be covering infectious disease policy and research!,” she posted on LinkedIn. CIDRAP (“SID-wrap”), part of the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota, addresses public health preparedness and emerging infectious disease response. Part of their mission is translating scientific information into real-world, practical applications, policies and solutions.
*** Rich Eisenberg — Won the SABEW (Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing) 2025 Best in Business Award in the Personal Finance/Small Division category for his MarketWatch article I wrote just It was on how hard it is to know what a hospital stay will cost and what’s being done to change that.
4. GRAY WATCH
*** “An Oligarchy of Old People,” by Idrees Kahloon, The Atlantic (April 13, 2026): The Dek – “How elderly Americans amassed disproportionate wealth and power.”
Editor’s Note: I’ve received several entreaties from GBONews readers for me to scratch at the latest rash of articles blaming old people for the nation’s socioeconomic and political ills. Kahloon, a staff writer at The Atlantic, was previously the Washington bureau chief for The Economist.
More extensive than his screed has been a series of articles by Yale professor, Samuel Moyn, such as his New York Times op-ed, “Older Americans Are Hoarding America’s Potential,” (April 21, 2026). That piece is one of three excerpts or commentaries in major national publications, so far, from Moyn’s forthcoming book, Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About It (Macmillan/ Farrar, Straus & Giroux, June 2026). This editor is currently reviewing the text for a future issue of GBONews.
Regarding Kahloon’s stunningly sloppy assault on older people, readers should ask themselves whether the “American gerontocracy” he distinguishes from those in authoritarian regimes, as “exceptional for being freely elected,” actually functions with the same unity of intent needed to control resources through might and, perhaps, ideo-religious power. Do Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer define dictatorial hegemony over, say, the cacophonous United States electorate? Anyone notice that 2026 is a banner year for both Democratic and GOP members of Congress to depart in both houses, including those across the age spectrum?
Kahloon derides Presidents Biden and Trump as octogenarians, but what about the ages of Wall Street’s “Magnificent Seven” tech corporate heads? The uber-rich chiefs of the U.S. technology and “growth” companies that now dominate the Dow with massive AI investments—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, even as the rest of the U.S. economy is dragging. Might another writer just as speciously argue that it’s Generation X that is plunging America toward hell in a rocket-shaped handbasket.
You can do the math followed by nine zeros: Elon Musk, 54; Mark Zuckerberg, 42; Sam Altman, 41; Jeff Bezos, 62; David O. Sacks, 53; Sundar Pichai, 53; Jen-Hsun “Jensen” Huang, 63; and, well, you’re welcome to look up the others. Even tossing in political powerbrokers Peter Thiel, 58; Mark Andreesen, 54; and the didactic duo of Paramount and CBS News (farewell, Stephen Colbert and John Dickerson) of Larry Ellison, 81, with his media-mogul son, David, 43, should suggest to anyone with a desktop calculator that today’s diffused population of 61 million Americans ages 65-plus, can’t so easily sit in the Oval Office or jet to Beijing, as influentially as the billionaire class.
I won’t take more space here to further eviscerate Mr. Kahloon’s numbskullery. But as journalists take in the convoluted arguments faulting old people for fowling America’s systems of housing, education, economic stability and other complexities, consider: Why old people? Why a demographic category about half of whom are understood to be living on fixed incomes? Too many older adults in the U.S. are barely keeping up with inflation, and so many find Social Security falling short of what most need to make financial ends meet for basic housing, health care, food and other costs of living. (See The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index), developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston.)
Again, why is another outcropping of intellectual elites, so well educated and articulate, turning a complex socio-economic analyses into tirades against a particular group of people? Is it because prejudicial salvos against the foggy clouds of old fogies is easier to sell to publishers than thoughtful deliberation about society’s complications? Why accuse old people? Is there any other rational answer when clear thinking is so absent among the accomplished than to follow the money, pursue the notoriety, clasp on to the -ism – of aging in this case – at hand?
Social philosopher and Holocaust survivor, Hannah Arendt, asked us to reconsider “the human condition from the vantage point of our newest experiences and our most recent fears. . . . What I propose, therefore, is very simple: it is nothing more than to think what we are doing.” Think. Think what to ask provocative authors about what they were thinking when they decided to demean one group of people for what they’re perceived by some to be, not for who they really are. Think. The answer to ageism is in the mirror.–
The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online News (GBONews.org). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. Copyright 2026 Paul Kleyman. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
To subscribe for free or unsubscribe, or if you have technical problems receiving issues of GBO or if you’d like to be removed from the list, e-mail me at paul.kleyman@earthlink.net, or pfkleyman@gmail.com or phone me at (415) 821-2801.