Tag Archives for Blackstone Valley Call & Times

2025: A Year on the “Age Beat” in Rhode Island

Published in RINewsToday on December 29, 2025

Throughout 2025, this “Age Beat” columnist published a weekly commentary covering an extensive list of aging, healthcare, and medical issues. During this year, this columnist followed Congressional debates inside the Beltway involving Medicare, Medicaid, reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, and Social Security, reporting on how these federal policy proposals would affect older Rhode Islanders.  During the latest legislative session of the Rhode Island General Assembly, policy debates on Smith Hill were also covered in my weekly commentaries, examining how the proposed bills or enacted laws would impact state programs and services serving Rhode Island’s growing older population.

After reviewing the latest U.S. Census Data, it becomes very clear that the state’s aging population continues to grow.  For more than twenty-five years, I have tracked and continue to follow the graying of Rhode Island’s population.  Through more than 50 articles published in 2025 in Blackstone Valley Call & times and its sister publications, RINewstoday, Senior Digest and other statewide outlets, these stories have decoded complicated public policy debates, and demographic trends to shed light as to how they affect the daily lives of older adults, their caregivers, and nonprofit organizations that serve them.   

Some might interpret my weekly reporting as a way that specifically looks at older adults as one group of people.  However, others might see them on how aging impacts our own family members and our neighbors, and how we all deal with real-life challenges as we get older.

 Themes from Past Year’s Coverage

 Over the past year, several themes have become clear:  the economics of growing older and financially surviving retirement; staying safe from increasing sophisticated scams, public health issues surrounding loneliness and food insecurity; limited public transportation, finding a primary care physician, and managing multiple chronic illnesses.  Many of these commentaries also looked closely at state and federal policies that led to cuts in Medicare and Medicaid; the pressure points placed on Rhode Island’s safety net; and the ongoing policy questions the Rhode Island General Assembly is asking about how to help older adults stay independent at home—not just to live  longer, but live better.

You learn very quickly that national policy debates don’t go the same way here,, if you’ve lived in the Ocean State for a while.  A change in federal requirements of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or changing eligibility requirements and cuts to Medicaid funding are not distant Washington stories reported by the Washington Post or New York Times especially if they affect food, meal deliveries and health care provided in Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, or Westerly. A change in Medicare drug pricing is not an abstract concept if it determines whether your older neighbor can fill a lifesaving prescription—or whether your spouse’s non-drug compliance stretches pills just to make them last.

 Many of these articles were tied to timely triggers—AARP reports detailing findings of national surveys and polls, a Senate Aging Committee or Congressional hearing putting a spotlight on an aging issue, a proposed legislative proposal being considered by Congress or the Rhode Island General Assembly. But the reporting doesn’t just give a concise summary of a policy issue. The point of these commentaries is to shed light on the issues by asking: “So what does this mean for older Rhode Islanders?” Where are the funding gaps?”  “Who is being left out?  “What can be done now while larger reforms slowly grind their way forward, only to be enacted years later?”

 Many of the commentaries published this year focused on out-of- pocket costs that increase with one’s aging —especially skyrocketing medical expenses. Even when Medicare covers a significant portion of one’s care, many older adults still face overwhelming costs, from premiums and co-pays to dental and vision needs, to uncovered services and especially costly prescription drugs and nursing home care.  The reporting also examined pending questions about Medicare’s financial future, including whether the program will be able to pay beneficiaries full benefits beyond 2033, or face potential benefit cuts.  Even the Washington, DC-based National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare’s call for expanding the retirement program, along with raising the cap to enable Social Security to pay its bills made it into these commentaries.

 Another common theme in this year’s published commentaries is the recognition that aging affects not only our bodies and wallets, but also our emotions and relationships as well. The past year’s reporting on the role of loneliness and isolation serves as a reminder of how harmful they can be, especially when they lead to worse health outcomes.  In these writings, the goal is not to romanticize “community” but to show how social connection and networks in a “community” can be a good way to improve one’s health.

 The commentaries on loneliness do not regard the negative emotional response as a personal deficiency but rather as a significant policy concern influenced by the persistent scarcity of affordable housing, inadequate public transportation, mobility limitations, the loss of spouses and friends, and communities designed around the use of cars rather than their pedestrian walkability or accessibility.  How we view this matters because it is the framing that shifts the discussion away from “Why don’t older adults get out more?” to “What community barriers make connections harder to make—and what public supports are needed to make community connections possible?”

 Taking a New Look at Being Age-Friendly

The commentary on “age-friendly” thinking shows how Rhode Island’s 39 cities and towns can change their programs, services, and public spaces to keep older adults engaged in their community instead of primarily isolated. The announcement that the City of Pawtucket had joined Newport, Cranston, Providence, Westerly, and Bristol to become one of Rhode Island’s Age-Friendly Network Communities is an example.  We hope to report on more communities doing the same.

Over the past year, coverage of food insecurity, and a profile on the Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island, have helped to answer bigger policy questions:  What happens when demand goes up but and payments don’t? How do people get on waiting lists?  “What does “service disruption” mean for someone living at home? And how much does it cost—both in money and in people, when these programs have to be cut back?

One of the most important things we’ve reported on this year is consumer protection, especially when it comes to scams that target older people, because they are often the ones that more easily fall for scams because they have savings and are concerned about them, aren’t as familiar with digital manipulation, or have cognitive impairment.  There are many reasons why this topic is important right now, especially with new technology being used to spread scams.  And the Rhode Island General Assembly has been quick to act.  One commentary informed readers that Rhode Island has passed a new law to crack down on Crypto ATM fraud, making it the 12th state to do so.

 The best reporting on scams doesn’t just explain the tricks and why people fall for them – it also keeps the reader updated as to how scams keep changing.  Plus, it gives you practical tips as to how to avoid them, like pausing before you respond, double-checking what you’re told, and turning to someone you trust if something feels off, verifying, and seeking trusted help before acting. I wrote about these tips in great detail.

These consumer protection commentaries didn’t blame the victims, rather by framing scams as a systemic program caused by new technology and weak verification standards. And it makes this point clear.  Scams are not just seen as financial crimes; they can also cause shame, isolation, and stress that can harm your health.

 Caregiving is also another common topic in this year’s published commentaries. Aging advocates will tell you that caregivers are the hidden backbone of providing care to those in need.  They will tell you that family members, friends, and neighbors help out in ways that would otherwise need paid services or institutional care.  An AARP report says that about 121,000 in Rhode Islanders provided unpaid care to others in 2021 – estimated to be valued monetarily at over $2.1 billion.

 These commentaries on caregiving don’t talk about it in terms of sentiment, but in terms of policy, taking a look at time costs, impact on jobs, burnout, and the lack of enough respite support. The reporting also helps to shed light on common caregiver stress, and that needing help is not a personal failure but a normal result of  demographics and underfunded state programs and services.

When National Policy Hits Close to Home

In Rhode Island, where community-based services are important  to “aging in place,” the weekly coverage has helped readers to understand the whole long-term care continuum—from home care to day care to senior centers to assisted living to nursing home care, if needed.

 At best, access to health care is uneven; transportation is a barrier to many; affordable, accessible housing is limited; and the Medicaid-funded workforce that helps people stay at home is overworked and underpaid.  Older adults are dealing with rising costs for food, utilities, and rent or home upkeep, as well as the effects of inflation.

 Although many of this year’s commentaries put the spotlight on policy issues that need to be fixed, they also provide state policy makers ideas to solve these issues.  These are advocacy groups age-friendly planning; stronger protections for consumers; smarter use of technology; and increased state funding that treats community-based supports as cost-effective interventions rather than optional add-ons.

From Detroit to Pawtucket, and back again: The journey of a WWII footlocker

Published on January 13, 2025 in RINewsToday

“There and Back Again.” originating from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, is an expression that means a complete round trip to a place, including the journey back to where you started.

The journey of my late-father’s military olive-green footlocker began last June, after I was notified by a Detroit couple, Michael Shannon and his girlfriend Cetaura Bell, that it had been found cast away on a sidewalk for anyone to claim. The long-lost trunk that I never knew existed, had been stored in a vacant garage for over 60 years, ultimately ended up on my front steps, delivered almost 700 miles by FEDEX from Detroit to Pawtucket.  

Shannon, a 55-year-old retiree of Detroit’s wastewater facility, and Bell, a retired teacher, didn’t have to seek me out to return the footlocker to the family. They could have just kept the vintage military footlocker for use as a coffee table, or could have sold it at a flea market or on eBay.

But they offered to give me my father’s footlocker, as a gift, asking me for nothing in exchange. Shannon told me that he was just glad it could end up with the family of its rightful owner instead of being dumped in a landfill or another stranger’s home.

After the footlocker arrived, I closely examined a faded mailing label on its top.  By enlarging the label, filled out by my father, Lt. Frank M. Weiss, with Photoshop, my graphic designer was able to identify his  Detroit mailing address, 16841 Wildemere Avenue,  (which matched the address in his military records) on the label.  It was like winning a million-dollar lottery. Now I was convinced that this trunk was owned by my father.   

The footlocker, meantime, sat in my basement. Although it was empty when it arrived, I placed a folded American flag, given to my family at my father’s funeral, his military memorabilia, scrapbook of faded photos of his comrades in arms and assigned military bases from his long-ago days during WW II, and military documents for safe keeping.

What a story to share?  

In a crazy world where people don’t care about strangers, but an act of kindness returned a WWII veteran’s lost military footlocker to a family member.  My article, published here, and in the Blackstone Valley Call & Times, detailing Shannon and Bell’s kindness, was picked up by the Cranston Herald, Warwick Beacon, Senior Digest, and then later by Columnist Neal Rubin, of the Detroit Free Press, a Gannet publication, in both their digital and print editions. Then other Gannet papers, including the Providence Journal, the Cincinnati paper and the Indy Star, reprinted Rubin’s column. Perhaps the biggest connection, though, was made Military Reporter, Corey Dickstein, with Stars & Stripes – the US military’s independent news source with a circulation of over 1 million readers, reported on this story.

There and Back Again

After a talk at the Hope Historical Society (HHS) about my father’s footlocker’s return to Rhode Island from a street curb in Detroit (a most appropriate topic for a monthly meeting scheduled around Veterans Day), Fred Faria, a retired professor at Johnson & Wales and one of HHS’s founders, asked me how this footlocker would be protected after my passing away.  Being over age 70, this question induced me to act.

So, I reached out to the Washington, DC-based Smithsonian Institution’s’ National Museum of American History, offering to donate this military heirloom with a unique background story. 

“The footlocker indeed has a wonderful story but at present time this item is outside the scope of our current collecting plan. Might I recommend your state history museum or the National WW II Museum [in New Orleans] as worthy homes for this piece?” said Frank A. Blazich, Jr., PhD., Curator, Military History, Division of Military and Society, responding to my offer.   

Following up Blazich’s referral, this is a response off the New Orleans-based Museum. “We would be happy to have the contents of the footlocker for our collection; however, due to the number of footlockers that we already have and the size of these items, we are not able to accept the footlocker itself,” said Assistant Curator Brandon Daake, Assistant Curator.

 “If you are interested in keeping the footlocker and its contents together to tell one story, I would suggest reaching out to the Michigan’s Military Heritage Museum (MMHM), or another museum in the Detroit area,” suggested Daake, recognizing the fact that my father was a Detroit WW II veteran.

And that I did…

Small military museum takes possession of military footlocker 

After several phone calls, a conversation with Scott Gerych, MMHM’s Chairman, the deal was quickly sealed.  My father’s military footlocker, with its Detroit, Michigan ties, would return to Michigan to become a unique addition to their growing collection of military artifacts.  

In a message left on my Apple iPhone, Gerych, a 25-year veteran who served in the U.S. Army and a noted author, said: I am just dropping a line to say how neat it was to receive your father’s trunk with items from his service in WWII. What a joy! To have it go from Detroit to Rhode Island and now back to Michigan is certainly a great story to tell and to ultimately have it reunited with the items your dad saved from his wartime service is just awesome!”

“We are proud to have received it and will be getting it, all cataloged so we can eventually work it into an exhibit here at the MMHM. We love to see these stories saved and get them out on the public eye for all who are interested to see. Once again, thank you for thinking of us here at the museum,” said Gerych.

From its first home, at the Coe House Museum in Grass Lake, MMHM set up a one-room display showcasing uniforms and original artifacts of veterans highlighting their military service.   

With a growing reputation and growing number of supporters and donations of historical military items, MMHM found a larger home, a 3,300-sf building in Grass Lake. After its five-year lease ran out, the small military museum found new location near the site of Camp Blair, a former 11-acre Civil War Union camp in Jackson. The military camp was an assembly point for  new recruits and a discharging station for soldiers after the war’s end.

The collection of military artifacts grew and in 2021, the 3,600-former store-front in Jackson, Michigan, MMMH, opened its doors (now open half days, four days a week or by appointment.). This permanent location would allow MMHM to showcase thousands of military artifacts and large military vehicles,  including  three military jeeps, a Spanish-American War ambulance wagon,  a WWI Model T ambulance, a replica of a M3 Lee tank and even four cannons.  Specifically: a 1831 6lb cannon from the Mexican War and then used by the Confederates in the Civil War; a WWII German Pak 40, a standard antitank gun; and a WWI US M1905 gun.

Getting MMHM Off the Ground

The idea of starting a Michigan military museum started off with questions posed to a small group of friends who later helped to establish the MMHM.  That is, “what happens to all these individual collections when we are gone?”  Most of the original group were collectors of some type of militaria and all were interested in seeing the stories preserved.

That question was asked in 2013 and their idea would be answered by filing articles of incorporation with the state and later establishing a 501 C 3 nonprofit corporation in 2016.

As the group grew, meetings were held, partnerships created with the local historic society.   After Liam Collins, who was knowledgeable about Michigan history and archaeology and an original member of the group passed away, the group not only preserved the memory of Liam by sharing the stories of the state’s veterans.

According to the nonprofit military museum, its mission is to tell the stories of “Great Lake State” military veterans through interpretive displays of artifacts, pictures, and written and oral histories.  “Our state has currently two aviation museums and a museum dedicated to Medal of Honor Recipients and Astronauts,” says Gerych but nothing for the average service member who sacrificed and endured so much for our freedoms. We will be that institution,” he says.

The museum served as the headquarters for Michigan’s World War I Centennial. During 2019 and 2020, the museum participated in the 75th Anniversary of the end of  WW II.  

The nonprofit’s Board members, all extremely interested in Michigan’s military history brings different skills to the table, says Gerych, noting that one has a master’s  degree in history and museum studies, another is an archivist who has decades of experience, as well as a Distinguished Fellow in the Company of Military Historians. “No one is paid,” he adds, saying that all are actively involved because of their love for history.

Gerych estimates that 5,000 to 8,000 visitors come to see the museums exhibits and learn about the personal history of everyday veterans.  “Our records indicate that these visitors come from more than 30 countries and all 50 states,” he says.

From Detroit to Pawtucket and back again. Now my family’s military heirloom has truly come home to become part of the MMHM’s growing military artifact collection.

Watch a JTV television commercial advertising MMHM. Go to https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1079607069959492

For more information about the MMHM, 331 N. Wisner, Jackson, MI 49202, call  (517) 926-6696.  Or email mmhminfo2020@gmail.com.

 

Looking back at 2024, sharing some favorites

Published in RINewsToday on January 7, 2025

Like many national news organizations, RINewsToday, The Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call (now combined into one newspaper called the Blackstone Valley Call & Times), offers its readers an ‘age beat’ editorial commentary, covering a myriad of aging issues, Congress (including Social Security and Medicare) retirement, the long-term care continuum, consumer issues, spirituality, pop culture, health care and even economics. Throughout these years

I’ve covered these issues as they relate to older Rhode Islanders, also covering Smith Hill, when there are state policy debates on issues that will impact older Rhode Islanders.

As a Rhode Island ‘age beat’ journalist for over 45 years, I have penned over 1,000 stories covering issues of interest to our readers. These authored and coauthored pieces have appeared in national, state and trade publications.

For many of these editorial commentaries, I have consistently drawn on the invaluable research produced by the Washington, DC-based AARP. Their insightful reports, polls, and studies have provided a wealth of information that has deepened public understanding of the challenges and opportunities of aging. I’ve also drawn on the expertise of professionals in the Rhode Island aging network for their perspective and comments on these topics, giving the editorial a good, local slant, where possible.

In 2024, my commentaries have appeared weekly in daily news outlets, also in other media outlets including RINewsToday – that’s about 52 articles a year – over quite a few years now! I’ve written for digital news publications, Senior Digest, a monthly publication for those over age 50, the Narragansett Times, Kent County Daily, Cranston Herald, Warwick Beacon and the Johnston Sun who have picked up stories, and of course, my own blog.

As we celebrate the New Year and look forward to 2025, looking back, I have selected my top five favorite commentaries published in 2024. Specifically:

“Stoic Tips for the Class of 2024,” May 27, 2024.

Generally, thousands of commencement speeches occur annually at university and colleges in the U.S. The common themes of these speakers (traditionally 10 minutes in length, up to 2,500 words) that typically emerge in their speeches in 2024 were: resilience and overcoming challenges; embracing change and innovation; social responsibility and making a difference; the power of community and collaboration; and personal growth and lifelong learning; mental health and well-being and finally embracing diversity and inclusion.

Over the years, never being invited to give a commencement speech, I have traditionally penned my own. So, in 2024, advice was giving to graduating seniors, pulling from stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy that thrived in Ancient Greece and Rome. Advice came from: Epictetus, a former slave in Hierapolis (modern-day Turkey) around 50 CE; Seneca the Younger, who lived in the 1st century CE; Stoic Philosopher Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor who ruled from 161 to 180 CE; and Stoic Greek philosopher, Heraclitus.

Graduating seniors were advised to remember the teachings of Stoic philosophy that would offer them a timeless roadmap for living a life of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment.

“Congressman Magaziner Takes Baton on Bring Back House Aging Committee,” March 4, 2024

Over 30 years ago, the US House Democratic leadership’s belt-tightening efforts to save $1.5 million resulted in the termination of the House Permanent Select Committee on Aging. This commentary announced Cong. Seth Magaziner (RI-2) legislative attempt to bring back the House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA) when he picked up the baton from former Cong. David Cicilline who sought to bring it back during the 114th-117th Congresses.

The Commentary announced that Cong. Seth Magaziner’s introduction of H. Res. 1029, on Feb. 23, 2024, (cosponsored by Cong. Gabe Amo (RI-1) and 27 House Democratic lawmakers) to reestablish the HSCoA. It was referred to the House Committee on Rules for mark-up, (which never occurred) and the legislative resolution died at the conclusion of the 118th Congress.

According to the commentary, every day 12,000 Americans turn 60. By 2030, nearly 75 million people in the U.S. — or 20% of the country — will be age 65 or older. With the graying of our nation, the need for support and services provided under programs like Social Security, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act increases.

Magaziner’s 213-word resolution would have authorized the HSCoA to study the use of all practicable means and methods of encouraging the development of public and private programs and policies which will assist seniors in taking a full part in national life and which will encourage the utilization of the knowledge, skills, special aptitudes, and abilities of seniors to contribute to a better quality of life for all Americans.

Finally, the House Resolution would also allow the HSCoA to develop policies that would encourage the coordination of both governmental and private programs designed to deal with problems of aging and to review any recommendations made by the President or by the White House Conference on aging in relation to programs or policies affecting seniors.

Hopefully, we will see Magaziner continue his attempt to bring back the HSCoA by reintroducing a new resolution during this new Congress. With his

“If You Want a Friend in Washington, Get a Furry Friend,” Aug. 5, 2024.

With an increasing number of adults reporting a decrease in the number of close friends, the old adage, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog,” might also be applicable outside the Beltway, even in the Ocean State. This companionship can also boost your physical and mental health. Your furry friends’ capacity for unconditional love enables them to share our lives’ highs and lows.

This commentary stressed the powerful bond of owning a pet and how the relationship offers mental and emotion support to their owners.

According to the findings of an American Psychiatric Association (APA) Healthy Minds Monthly poll released jointly with the American Veterinary Medical Association, among the many mental health benefits of pets, nearly two-thirds of pet owners say that their animals offer companionship (65%), are a true friend (65%) and provide unconditional love and support (64%), the survey finds. Eighty-four percent of pet owners say that their pets have a mostly positive impact on their mental health, similar to the findings of last year’s polling on the same topic. The poll was of 2,200 adults, done by Morning Consult.

Furthermore, the survey’s findings indicated 62 percent of the survey’s respondents say that pets provide a calming presence and also help reduce their stress and anxiety. Thirty-five percent note that their pet encourages them to be more physically active, too. The findings note that owning a pet adds structure to a respondent’s schedule and can even increase social connections with others (19%).

Yes, in Washington or outside the Beltway, if you want a friend, get a dog (or even a cat, bird or hamster). Pets can become a protective buffer against physical and mental disorders and life stressors.

“Someone’s Trash is a Military Family’s Treasure: Ours,” June 3, 2024.

This commentary, in the Blackstone Valley Call & Times, highlighted my efforts to retrieve a military footlocker that belonged to my father, after being notified that a Detroit couple, Michael Shannon and his girlfriend Cetaura Bell, found it cast away on a sidewalk for anyone to claim. The trunk had sat in a vacant garage for over 60 years (with the owner having no relations with the owner Lt. Frank M. Weiss). The couple went out of their way to try and finally successfully track me down thru an internet search.

My story was picked up by RINewsToday, and then in several local papers. The Detroit Free Press, a Gannet publication also did a story, in both their digital and print editions, and then other Gannet papers, including the Providence Journal, the Cincinnati paper and the Indy Star. Perhaps the biggest connection, though, was made with Stars & Stripes – the US military’s independent news source with a circulation of over 1 million readers.

“Shortage of direct care professionals a local and national concern,” April 22, 2024

Over 23 years ago, commentaries in the Pawtucket Times that I wrote reported on the crisis of a direct care staffing shortage and inadequate reimbursement being paid to nursing facilities to care for Rhode Island’s frail seniors. As we enter 2025, NOTHING has changed and these staffing and reimbursement issues still continue to exit.

The commentary took a look at a U.S. Special Committee on Aging hearing, chaired by Chairman Bob Casey, (D-PA), showcasing S. 4120, legislation that he introduced with U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). The Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act, introduced during the 118thCongress,would ensure that direct care professionals have a sustainable, lifelong career by providing substantial new funding to support these workers in every part of the long-term care industry, from nursing homes to home care, to assisted living facilities.

The Senate Aging Committee hearing revealed a number of statistical findings showing the need for Congress to address the nation’s severe ongoing direct care professional workforce shortage. It was noted that a recently released survey revealed 92% of nursing facility respondents and nearly 70% of assisted living facilities reported significant or severe workforce shortages.

The April 16th hearing entitled, “The Long-Term Care Workforce: Addressing Shortages and Improving the Profession,” examined the challenges currently facing long-term care workers who are often underpaid and overworked, leading to widespread worker shortages that threaten the availability of care for those who need it.

“It’s a crisis that stems largely from a lack of support for and investment in our care giving workforce,” warned Casey in his opening statement. “Between 50 to over 90 percent of long-term care settings and providers report significant staffing shortages, affecting their ability to provide services, accept new clients, or even to remain open,” he said, with witnesses providing personal testimony about this policy issue.

John E. Gage, MBA, NHA, President & CEO, of the Rhode Island Health Care Association (RIHCA), Maureen Maigret, policy advisory of the Senior Agenda of RI (SACRI), offered their views of the nation’s severe ongoing direct care professional workforce shortage citing Rhode Island specific examples.

In conclusion…

I extend my heartfelt thanks to the thousands of individuals I have interviewed over these 45 years. Their comments reflecting insights and observations about aging, health care, and medical issues, have profoundly enriched these commentaries.

To review all my 53 commentaries that appeared in 2024 (including the above cited), go to http://www.herbweiss.blog.