ArcaMax

PHILADELPHIA — In a small fictional town in Louisiana, the six women centered in "Steel Magnolias" have forged a community among — and an ever-deepening relationship with — each other. In a real town in southeastern Pennsylvania, a group of women who have worked together for decades are bringing those characters and those deep bonds to ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Nurse Lacey Williams noticed Eva Lu Damianos' unique jewelry and clothing while the 90-year-old was recuperating from a broken leg this summer.

She could tell Damianos was "artsy," she said.

How artsy? She had no idea.

Damianos, a painter who has exhibited her work in galleries and at the Carnegie Museum of Art, was in the ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Laura Williams was a planner. She planned for the butterflies she raised in her backyard in Duncanville, Texas. She planned for power outages at her home, buying a portable generator just in case. She even planned her death.

Shortly after Williams went to the hospital with stroke-like symptoms, she decided to work with a ...Read more

DALLAS -- In a Dallas retirement home, Theresa Steward is skydiving. She squeals and yelps as the ground rushes up and snow-capped mountains slide past. Her body lurches forward, and she grabs at the air to steady herself. After landing safely, she appears relieved but exhilarated.

It may seem impossible to do what she has just done. But that ...Read more

Toni:

On November 6, when the government was still shut down, I turned in my Medicare enrollment forms signed by my employer to the local Social Security office. I never received anything from Social Security about being enrolled, so I went back to the office and found out that my paperwork was lost. I refiled a copy of the forms...Read more

You’re ready to leave the hospital, but you don’t feel able to care for yourself at home yet.

Or, you’ve completed a couple of weeks in rehab. Can you handle your complicated medication regimen, along with shopping and cooking?

Perhaps you fell in the shower, and now your family wants you to arrange help with bathing and getting dressed....Read more

You’re ready to leave the hospital, but you don’t feel able to care for yourself at home yet.

Or, you’ve completed a couple of weeks in rehab. Can you handle your complicated medication regimen, along with shopping and cooking?

Perhaps you fell in the shower, and now your family wants you to arrange help with bathing and getting dressed....Read more

SANDY, Utah — Just outside Salt Lake City sits an old, two-story, brick hotel. It’s been given new life as a homeless shelter for seniors. The Medically Vulnerable People shelter — or MVP shelter, as it’s known — is for people 62 and older or for younger adults with chronic health issues.

Residents share rooms designed to be ...Read more

On stage, at the beach and in the mountains: New, enriching and sometimes life-changing experiences wait for you in the new year. Here are three play-cations, each a unique and original journey that promises not only an adventure but a way to reconnect with yourself and the world through art, camaraderie and peaceful solitude.

‘Come From Away...Read more

Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 different diets.”

But 5 pounds would come off and then invariably reappear, said Bucklew, 75, a public transit retiree in Ocean View, Delaware. Nothing seemed to make much...Read more

Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 different diets.”

But 5 pounds would come off and then invariably reappear, said Bucklew, 75, a public transit retiree in Ocean View, Delaware. Nothing seemed to make much...Read more

Morning, Toni:

Recently, you wrote a Medicare column about various life policies available after 65, and I have a retirement insurance question.

In June, I’m retiring when I turn 70 and my wife, Anna, will be 68. Our retirement insurance issue is that recently we applied for a long-term care plan and were both denied due to our health issues...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- One day my left foot hurt for no good reason. I stood up to shake off the pain and tweaked my right Achilles tendon, so I headed for the medicine cabinet, bent over like an ape because of a stiff back.

Actually, I lied.

It wasn't one day. It's pretty much every day.

None of this is severe or serious, and I'm not complaining at ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- One day my left foot hurt for no good reason. I stood up to shake off the pain and tweaked my right Achilles tendon, so I headed for the medicine cabinet, bent over like an ape because of a stiff back.

Actually, I lied.

It wasn't one day. It's pretty much every day.

None of this is severe or serious, and I'm not complaining at ...Read more

Hi Toni:

I recently enrolled in Medicare. This week, I went to see my primary care doctor and his office manager informed me that they are no longer accepting it. Instead I will have to pay the complete bill up front and be reimbursed by Medicare. His office is small, and the doctor will be retiring soon. I will need to find a new doctor.

Toni...Read more

In her house in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Barbara Meade said, “there are walkers and wheelchairs and oxygen and cannulas all over the place.”

Barbara, 82, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so a portable oxygen tank accompanies her everywhere. Spinal stenosis limits her mobility, necessitating the walkers and wheelchairs and considerable...Read more