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By Linda F. Fitzgerald The growing problem of elder hunger in the United States, including right here in Massachusetts, is disgraceful. And, it can be...

If you’ve walked into a ski lodge the past few years, likely as not you’ve seen tables filled with gray-haired skiers wearing sweaters so old they’re back in style.

By Al Norman I think Congress has it totally wrong on the issue of the Social Security payroll tax. The House and the Senate both...

By Al Norman Over a period of seven years, I criticized former Governor Deval Patrick for rarely mentioning the elderly in his annual State of...

One chilly, blustery day, I was browsing in a bookshop when a willowy young woman breezed in. I immediately noticed that she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. More than that, in my opinion, she wasn’t dressed appropriately for any public viewing: flimsy, slippery beige T-shirt clinging too revealingly to her torso, her tiny black skirt like two napkins stitched together, long bare legs, model-perfect make-up, every hair in her puffy dark bob in its assigned position.

Across America, family caregivers help parents, spouses, children and adults with disabilities and other loved ones to live independently. They prepare meals, handle finances, manage medications, drive to doctors’ appointments, help with bathing and dressing, and perform complex medical tasks and more — all so loved ones can live at home.

Today, a secure retirement may be out of reach for millions of Americans, especially those who work for small businesses. Fifty-seven million Americans have no access to a retirement savings plan through their employers - that’s over 50 percent of the 18- to 64-year-old population. When employers give workers the option of payroll deduction for retirement savings, AARP research indicates that their participation rate is a whopping 1,300 percent higher than that of those without the option.

I remember one moment when the world, at least my world, rested in perfect harmony. This wasn’t my only such moment, but it was the earliest I remember of experiencing that sweet contentment that occurs when everything is in its place. When my sister and I were little, our parents played piano. They had a tiny band, playing for weekly square dances at the village dance hall on the lake. Usually they were joined by a saxophone player and a drummer, sometimes a fiddler, sometimes a banjo player. But the piano was the musical anchor, necessary for every set of three square dances followed by three ballroom dances. The work was too demanding physically for one pianist; our parents took turns.

Massachusetts elected officials prepared the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) commonwealth budget proposal, a $40.5 billion spending plan which funds key priorities.

The digital revolution has made a huge impact on the way hearing aids look and work. They can be so small they are virtually invisible. They can also more accurately mimic the way you used to hear before you experienced hearing loss.