{"id":6398,"date":"2021-01-28T08:22:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T13:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=6398"},"modified":"2021-01-28T08:22:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T13:22:05","slug":"what-will-later-life-be-like-beyond-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2021\/01\/what-will-later-life-be-like-beyond-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"What Will Later Life Be Like Beyond COVID-19?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a time when the future seems unknowable\u2014except that the \u201cnew normal\u201d may not be much like the past\u2014journalist Judith Graham talked to almost a dozen older people about their own hopes and fears. Her article was posted on the <\/i><\/b>Kaiser Health News (KHN) website<\/i><\/b><\/a> on July 7, 2020. Funding from the Silver Century Foundation helps KHN develop articles (like this one) on longevity and related health and social issues.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Months into the coronavirus pandemic, older adults are having a hard time envisioning their \u201cnew normal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many remain fearful of catching the virus and plan to follow strict precautions\u2014social distancing, wearing masks and gloves, limiting excursions to public places\u2014for the indefinite future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mortality is no longer an abstraction for those who have seen friends and relatives die of COVID-19. Death has an immediate presence as never before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people are grieving the loss of their old lives and would love nothing better than to pick up where they left off. Others are convinced their lives will never be the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the cusp of a new world,\u201d said Harry Hutson, 72, an organizational consultant and executive coach who lives in Baltimore.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s among nearly a dozen older adults who discussed the \u201cnew normal\u201d in lengthy conversations. All acknowledged their vulnerability as states across the country lifted stay-at-home orders. (Adults 65 and older are more likely to become critically ill if infected with the coronavirus.) Here\u2019s some of what they said:<\/span><\/p>\n

Willetha, 67, and Harold, 68, Barnette, of Durham, NC.<\/b> The Barnettes are an unusual couple: they divorced in 1995 but began living together again in 2014 when both Willetha and her elderly mother became ill, and Harold returned to help.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Willetha, who has Crohn\u2019s disease and is immunocompromised, the \u201cnew normal\u201d is characterized by vigilance\u2014masks, gloves, disinfectants, social distancing, working remotely (she\u2019s a development officer at a school).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to be comfortable freely moving around this world until they\u2019re able to do reliable antibody testing and there is a vaccine,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now, I think we all have to learn to live smaller.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m preparing myself for a different social order.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014Harold Barnette<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Harold believes that self-reliance and local support networks are more important than ever. \u201cTo me, the pandemic reveals troubling things about the state of institutions in our society. The elder care system is rotten and the health care system full of neglect,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m preparing myself for a different social order. I\u2019m thinking that will be built on relationships with family and people near to us and we\u2019ll all be helping each other out more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Patricia Griffin, 80, of Oxford, PA.<\/b> Griffin is a retired microbiologist who lives alone in a continuing care community and loves to travel. In March, as the coronavirus pandemic gathered steam, she was due to take a trip to the Amazon, which was canceled.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m leaning toward being cautious but not being completely a prisoner.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014Patricia Griffin<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI envision conditions for seniors being restrictive until we have a vaccine,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cThat makes me angry because I don\u2019t have that many years left. And I would like to do the things I want to do. At the moment, I\u2019m leaning toward being cautious but not being completely a prisoner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A big frustration for Griffin is the lack of clear guidance for healthy older adults like her who do not have underlying medical conditions. \u201cAll we see are statistics that lump all of us together, the healthy with those that have multiple issues,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m wondering what my odds of getting really sick from this virus are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilma Jenkins, 82, of South Fulton, GA.<\/b> Jenkins, who has coped with depression most of her life and describes herself as an introvert, lives alone in a small house just outside Atlanta.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI confess I\u2019m going to be afraid for a while,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the pandemic, her three adult children and grandchildren have created a new tradition: Zoom meetings every Sunday afternoon. Previously, the entire family got together once a year, at Thanksgiving. \u201cIt helps me a lot, and I think it will last because we have so much fun,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before her life ground to a halt, Jenkins regularly gave presentations at senior centers across Atlanta on what it\u2019s like to grow old. \u201cMy work is helping little old people like me,\u201d she said, \u201cand when I can get out again, I\u2019ll be reminding them that we have reached a point when we can wear the crown of age and we should be doing that proudly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marian and Ed Hollingsworth, 66 and 72, of La Mesa, CA.<\/b> Ed has a rare gastrointestinal cancer and is enrolled in a clinical trial of a new drug.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision of the future is somewhat limited, given my age and my prognosis,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a constant fear and uncertainty. I don\u2019t see that changing anytime soon. We\u2019ll be in the house a lot, cooking a lot, watching a lot of Netflix.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking at least a year or two of taking strong precautions,\u201d said Marian, a patient-safety advocate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always was the person who was active and doing for others. Now I\u2019m the one at home having to ask for help, and it feels so foreign,\u201d she said. Her most immediate heartache: \u201cWe don\u2019t know when we\u2019ll see our [four] kids again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Chady, 75, of Chapel Hill, NC.<\/b> Chady, a former journalist and public relations professional, lives in a retirement community and participates in the North Carolina Coalition on Aging.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis pandemic has given me a greater appreciation of how precious family and friends are,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it will cause older people to examine their lives and their purpose a little more carefully.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Chady is optimistic about the future. \u201cI\u2019ve been involved in progressive causes for a long time, and I think we have a great opportunity now. With all that\u2019s happened, there\u2019s more acceptance of the idea that we need to do more to improve people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Edward Mosley, 62, of Atlanta.<\/b> Mosley lives alone in Big Bethel Village, an affordable senior housing community. Disabled by serious heart disease, he relies on Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. In the past year, he has had multiple hospitalizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic, it affected me because they canceled my doctors\u2019 appointments, and I was in a bad way,\u201d said Mosley, who had a pacemaker implanted in his chest before COVID-19 emerged. \u201cBut I\u2019m doing better now. I can walk with a cane, though not very far.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The hardest thing for Mosley is not being able to mingle with other people \u201cbecause you don\u2019t know where they\u2019ve been or who they\u2019ve been with. You feel like you\u2019re in solitary confinement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vicki Ellner, 68, of Glenwood Landing, NY.<\/b> Ellner ran [the] Senior Umbrella Network of Brooklyn for 20 years. Today she works as a consultant for an elder care attorney on Long Island.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the coronavirus upended life in and around New York City, Ellner and the attorney were planning to launch an initiative aimed at older women. Now, they\u2019ve broadened it to include older men and address issues raised during the pandemic. The theme: \u201cYou\u2019re not done yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellner explains it this way: \u201cMaybe you were on a path and had a vision of your life in mind. Then all of a sudden you have these challenges. Maybe you lost your job, or maybe things have happened in your family. What we want to help people understand is you\u2019re not done yet. You still have the ability to redirect your life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In her personal life, Ellner, who lives with a \u201csignificant other,\u201d is determined to keep fear at bay. \u201cWe tell ourselves we\u2019re doing everything we can to stay vital and get through this. We try to turn that into a positive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harry Hutson, 72, of Baltimore.<\/b> Hutson, an organizational consultant and executive coach, is married and has five grown children. He believes \u201can enormous change in lifestyle\u201d is occurring because of the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all more careful, but we\u2019re also more connected,\u201d he said. \u201cOlder friends are coming out of the woodwork. Everyone is Zooming and making calls. People are more open and vulnerable and willing to share than before. We\u2019re all trying to make meaning of this new world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all having a traumatic experience\u2014an experience of collective trauma,\u201d Hutson said. As the future unfolds, \u201cthe main thing is self-care and compassion. That\u2019s the way forward for all of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Annis Pratt, 83, of Birmingham, MI.<\/b> A retired English professor, novelist and environmental activist, Pratt lives alone in a home in suburban Detroit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m looking forward to is getting back to interacting with real people. Much of my human contact now is on Zoom, which I consider about 75% of a personal encounter,\u201d she said. \u201cBut every day, I make myself go out and talk to someone\u2014like taking a vitamin pill.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pratt now has a \u201cdo not put me on a ventilator\u201d order in her front hallway, along with a \u201cdo not resuscitate\u201d order. \u201cI know it\u2019s very likely that if I get to the point where I have to go to the hospital, I\u2019ll probably die,\u201d she said. \u201cOf course, I\u2019m going to die anyway: I\u2019m 83. But somehow, this pandemic has brought it all home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Going forward, Pratt sees two possibilities. \u201cOur moral imaginations will have grown because of what we\u2019ve all gone through, and we will do better. Or nothing will have changed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of all, she said, \u201cI would like to get my wonderful, wonderful life back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Months into the coronavirus pandemic, older adults are having a hard time envisioning their \u201cnew normal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read more What Will Later Life Be Like Beyond COVID-19?<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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