Kim Wright has spent hundreds of hours on the phone with neighbors.Wright, a retired nurse, volunteers with the Cimarron Watershed Alliance, a nonprofit focused on watershed and forest health on the eastern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The 2022 Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire made the fears of a catastrophic fire feel all the more real. So when she learned a year ago that the federal government was awarding more than $8 million to the alliance to help nine northern New Mexico communities better defend themselves against wildfire, she said, “We couldn’t believe it. We were so excited.”Creating defensible space around a house and structures, thinning nearby forests, and hauling away wood can cost up to $4,000, Wright said, “So this is a huge opportunity for everybody in these communities.”But people needed to know about the opportunity. She found and reserved places for three community meetings that later drew between 40 and 90 attendees each.
Health
Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. It’s a good day when Frank Lee, a retired chef, can slip out to the hardware store, fairly confident that his wife, Robin, is in the hands of reliable help. He spends nearly every hour of every day anxiously overseeing her care at their home on the Isle of Palms, a barrier island near Charleston, South Carolina.
Health
What to Know About Home Care Services
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. Most older Americans want to live at home as long as they can, but finding and affording the help they need often isn’t easy. There are severe shortages of home health aides in many parts of the country.
Health
Why Long-Term Care Insurance Falls Short for So Many
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. For 35 years, Angela Jemmott and her five brothers paid premiums on a long-term care insurance policy for their 91-year-old mother. But the policy does not cover home health aides whose assistance allows her to stay in her Sacramento, California, bungalow, near the friends and neighbors she loves.
Health
A Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. If you’re wealthy, you’ll be able to afford help in your home or care in an assisted living facility or a nursing home. If you’re poor, you can turn to Medicaid for nursing homes or aides at home.
Health
Extra Fees Drive Assisted Living Profits
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. Assisted living centers have become an appealing retirement option for hundreds of thousands of boomers who can no longer live independently, promising a cheerful alternative to the institutional feel of a nursing home. But their cost is so crushingly high that most Americans can’t afford them.
Health
What to Know About Assisted Living
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. Are you confused about what an assisted living facility is, and how it differs from a nursing home? And what you can expect to pay?
Health
Facing Financial Ruin as Costs Soar for Elder Care
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. Margaret Newcomb, 69, a retired French teacher, is desperately trying to protect her retirement savings by caring for her 82-year-old husband, who has severe dementia, at home in Seattle. She used to fear his disease-induced paranoia, but now he’s so frail and confused that he wanders away with no idea of how to find his way home.
Health
Adult Children Discuss the Trials of Caring for Their Aging Parents
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. “It is emotionally and physically draining.”
Natasha Lazartes with her mother, Carmen Torres, and husband, Jonathan Youngman, at her home in Brooklyn, New York. (Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times)
Natasha Lazartes
39, Brooklyn, New York Therapist
I am 39 years old.
Health
What Long-Term Care Looks Like Around the World
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New Mexico In Depth occasionally publishes stories produced by other news organizations that we feel would benefit New Mexicans. This is part one of “Dying Broke” – a look by Kaiser Family Foundation Health News and the New York Times at the economic devastation families often face caring for their elderly members. Given New Mexico’s aging population, it is particularly timely. Around the world, wealthy countries are struggling to afford long-term care for rapidly aging populations. Most spend more than the United States through government funding or insurance that individuals are legally required to obtain.
Health
‘Everywhere you go is short staffed’: New Mexico nursing homes in crisis
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Falling Short: Rebuilding elderly care in rural America Rural nursing homes across the country, already understaffed, face significant new federal staffing requirements. With on-the-ground reporting from INN’s Rural News Network and data analysis assistance from USA TODAY and Big Local News at Stanford University, eight newsrooms, including New Mexico In Depth, explore what the rule change would look like for residents in communities across America. Support from The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation made the project possible. New federal staffing standards meant to improve the care of millions of Americans in nursing homes could go into effect in as soon as two years. New Mexico’s nursing homes aren’t ready.