Older Americans living alone often rely on neighbors or others willing to help

Older Americans living alone often rely on neighbors or others willing to help 
California Healthline; by Judith Graham; 11/12/24
Donald Hammen, 80, and his longtime next-door neighbor in south Minneapolis, Julie McMahon, have an understanding. Every morning, she checks to see whether he’s raised the blinds in his dining room window. If not, she’ll call Hammen or let herself into his house to see what’s going on. Should McMahon find Hammen in a bad way, she plans to contact his sister-in-law, who lives in a suburb of Des Moines. That’s his closest relative. Hammen never married or had children, and his younger brother died in 2022. Although Hammen lives alone, a web of relationships binds him to his city and his community — neighbors, friends, former co-workers, fellow volunteers with an advocacy group for seniors, and fellow members of a group of solo agers. ... American society rests on an assumption that families take care of their own. But 15 million Americans 50 and older didn’t have any close family — spouses, partners, or children — in 2015, the latest year for which reliable estimates are available. Most lived alone. By 2060, that number is expected to swell to 21 million. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]
Editor's note: This important article references (1) "a noteworthy study published by researchers at Emory University" titled "Solo but not alone," which we will include in a Saturday research issue and (2) an AAPR survey that gives the name "solo agers." I give a shout-out to the visionary "Living Alone Program" back in 1993 at Hospice of Louisville (now Hosparus), and to all hospices who deliver creative, quality care to persons who live alone.