News & Events

I've been resistant to standard medical tests all my life and Google has made it easier to become an educated consumer. Sure, I understand that cancer screening is widely viewed as essential preventive care. Colonoscopies and mammograms are credited with saving lives through early detection. For many people in middle age, that is true. But in older adults, routine screening can become more complicated—and sometimes more harmful than helpful. Statistics show a growing gap

At Gray Panthers NYC's June Transformation Tuesday webinar, Aging with Pride: Building Inclusive Communities, our panel explored what it truly means to create communities where LGBTQ+ older adults can age with dignity, belonging, and support. While Pride Month celebrates progress, our conversation was a reminder that many older LGBTQ+ adults continue to face unique challenges rooted in decades of discrimination, isolation, and barriers to care. Building inclusive communities

From Girl Scouts to gerontology — meet Isabel Postelnek, the Gray Panthers NYC intern who designed a patch program teaching girls about ageism, intergenerational connection, and Maggie Kuhn's legacy. Now active in New York and Texas, with New Jersey on the horizon, this initiative is proving what the Gray Panthers have always known: old and young are natural allies. Read the full story in Aging in America News. 🔗 https://aginginamerica.news/2026/06/18/the-girl-scout-way/ #Gr

Five years after COVID-19 swept through nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the United States, Gray Panthers NYC gathered advocates, family members, researchers, clergy, and long-term care leaders for a powerful conversation: A Remembrance: The COVID Tragedy Five Years Later. The webinar served as both a memorial and a call to action. It revisited the 2021 Gray Panthers documentary Honoring Nursing Home Lives Lost, while asking an urgent question: Have we learn

Join Art Against Ageism and Gray Panthers NYC, on May 28 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern for a dynamic conversation, with Christina Peoples (aka Gero-What?!), a leading voice reshaping aging by tackling ageism through culture, storytelling, and community. This gathering will feature Christina's bold initiatives, "Real Homies Want to Know" and "Black Elder Truths," as we explore how storytelling and social media can challenge bias, spark connection, and reframe how we see aging across ge

What does it really mean to care for someone? Not just clinically. Not just efficiently. But humanly. During the April 28, 2026 Transformation Tuesday, we were joined by Marcus Engel—author, speaker, and narrative medicine educator—whose lived experience reshaped how many of us think about compassion in healthcare. His story began with trauma. But what stayed with us wasn’t just survival—it was what made survival possible. The Power of “I’m Here” In the chaos following a deva

On April 23 in Atlanta, I had the honor of presenting at the 2026 ASA conference alongside Carrie on a topic that feels both timely and deeply personal to long-standing advocacy organizations: Reviving, Rebranding and Rebuilding: GPNYC for the 21st Century. We titled our session as a reflection on what it means to evolve without losing identity, history, or mission. For organizations like ours, longevity is both an asset and a challenge. We carry the vision of Gray Panthers f

I’m just going to say it: not having dementia is a low bar to set for a political leader….no matter your political party. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen the increasing age in our political leaders and many calling out their age, assigning a casual “diagnosis” of dementia, but then still re-electing them. In contrast, there have been some congressmembers who have proposed legislation to make sure that we aren’t doing so. In 2023, Representative Scott DeJarlais propose

Dedicated to the radical spirit of Maggie Kuhn If we are serious about transforming elder care in America, we must follow the money. For decades, our reimbursement system has been built around crisis—not prevention. We pay when something goes wrong: a fall, a hospitalization, a decline. But we invest very little in keeping people strong, independent, and at home. The result is a system that quietly manages decline instead of promoting autonomy. It doesn't have to be this way.