“Intergenerational care for older adults had always been second nature to me. Despite my grandparents living an ocean’s length away in the Philippines, I found myself spending time with older residents at my mom’s workplace. I’d beeline straight to her office after school and spend time chatting with staff and residents alike. I’d later find myself in the middle of college applications and stumbled upon a gerontology program just down the street. Since then, I have not looked back.”

by Lois Angelo – “Lois Angelo is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California studying Human Development and Aging.”

My name is Lois Angelo. I’m an undergraduate at the Leonard Davis School at the University of Southern California majoring in Human Development and Aging. At USC, my involvements are mainly with the gerontology school’s research labs, student organizations, and communications efforts. 

“I learned about Age Equity Alliance and support its mission as an advocate for intergenerational discussion. With the pandemic in full swing, the challenges that older adults faced such as social isolation and ageist attitudes began to grow higher and higher. Research from the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago points to poorer cognitive function among older adults experiencing social isolation or loneliness. The workplace quickly found itself having to adapt to such changes. Unfortunately, this resulted in a growing age-related disparity targeted primarily against older adults. Sadly, the media and other pieces of social consumables have fueled the flames of intergenerational warfare, pitting cohorts against each other for brand revenue and attention.

“Stereotypes of older adults failing to understand technology are another clear example of ageism that hinders them from thriving and succeeding. We rarely see images of older people surfing the web or scrolling through social media. Those patterns translate into misconstrued stereotypes illustrating older adults as incapable or even apprehensive towards technology altogether. 

“The pandemic in lieu of the digital age, however, has not been all doom and gloom. It’s easier to facilitate open conversations that may have not been accessible at first in person. Moreover, intergenerational discussions and cooperation serve to bring people together after being apart for so long. The present mistakes encourage us to reflect back on the past and what we can do.

“Success in the workplace means adaptability to new environments and technology. This is a stark and new outlook compared to the workplaces which valued experience and wisdom above all. This shift does not mean that older adults should be left out of the picture. Clearly, an intergenerational workplace model helps to reconcile and recognize past mistakes while planning for a stronger, more inclusive future.”

“David Taylor, who has muscular dystrophy, relies on a ventilator to live. During the power outages across Texas in February, he had to be transported to a hospital before his ventilator’s backup battery ran out.” – Rodger Mallison/Undark Magazine

by Charlotte Huff

“For four decades, David Taylor has relied on a ventilator to breathe, the whoosh, whoosh of the machine part of the background metronome of daily life. Then, on the night of Feb. 14, an Arctic blast began to overwhelm the Texas power grid. The next morning, the electricity flickered out in the Fort Worth home that the 65-year-old shares with his mother.

“David’s ventilator switched over at some point to a backup battery and kept running. A family member brought over a generator and spent several hours trying, unsuccessfully, to get it working in the sub-freezing air. By nightfall, the one-story house had gone around 12 hours without power, other than an hour or so when the lights briefly turned on, recalled David’s 89-year-old mother, Dorothy Taylor. The temperature inside had dropped to the low 50s. David, who has muscular dystrophy, remained in bed beneath a pile of blankets. Dorothy kept one eye on the clock, unsure how much longer her son’s backup battery would hold out. “I couldn’t wait ’til the last minute,” she says. “He would die within minutes.”

“Across Texas, other families were facing similar dilemmas. The ambulance provider MedStar, which serves the greater Fort Worth area, fielded more than 50 calls — including Dorothy’s — from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17 involving patients with life-sustaining medical devices and no power. A San Antonio emergency room doctor, Ralph Riviello, tells Undark that around 18 to 24 people showed up at his hospital during the crisis, desperate to recharge medical equipment. Near Houston, a 75-year-old man froze to death in his truck; his family believes he ventured out to get a spare oxygen tank from the vehicle after losing electricity at his home.

“These are not just one-off tragedies. Some experts warn that complex home-based medical care is on a collision course with climate change, as severe weather events become more frequent nationwide.”

Continue reading this article at NPR, click here: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/15/996872685/growing-power-outages-pose-grave-threat-to-people-who-need-medical-equipment-to-