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GPNYC Press Mentions

2024

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Illinois woman leading voting awareness campaign for long-term care residents

The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in every area of public life, including voting

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Resident advocates aim to protect voting rights in nursing homes ahead of contentious election

​With just three months left before Election Day, patient advocates are pushing long-term care facilities to make sure their residents are both registered to vote and able to cast their ballots.

Carrie Leljedal, a family caregiver-turned-advocate, has launched #LTCVotes, a national campaign to encourage nursing home participation nationwide. She plans to request the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reissue guidance originally sent in October 2020 that affirmed residents’ right to vote.

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Carrie Leljedal, McKnight's Guest Column: An alternative view on anti-staffing mandate legislation

“Infinity and beyond” may be a rallying cry for Buzz Lightyear, yet when it comes to staffing and the welfare of the elderly and disabled in nursing homes. the system in our country is going backward. House Bill H.R. 7513, the Protecting America’s Seniors’ Access to Care Act, currently in Congress, represents a misguided legislative effort that, if enacted, would worsen the already challenging circumstances faced by our most vulnerable citizens. 

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H.R. 7513 effectively obstructs future initiatives aimed at establishing minimum staffing requirements in nursing homes nationwide. Consequently, already inadequate levels of care could plummet further, exposing residents to heightened risks that have their families rightfully alarmed. The bill explicitly prohibits the enforcement of any state minimum standards and impedes the implementation of federal minimum staffing requirements by the Department of Health and Human Services. 

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Advocates call for ACA-backed demonstration projects in nursing home sector

Patient advocates and nursing home operators intent on shifting the traditional approach to skilled nursing care should seize on a call for demonstration projects included in the Affordable Care Act, two experts said during a national webinar Tuesday.

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“If Congress would like to [invest in innovation], and we hope they will, we need your help to get them to do it,” long-term care policy analyst Anne Montgomery said during a webinar on the future of nursing homes. “It could be attached to the legislative authority … in … the Affordable Care Act. … It hasn’t yet been used for its intended purpose of transforming the nursing home system.”

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Moving nursing home staff in as residents has life-changing potential: experts

Leslie Pedtke spent more than two decades as administrator of an Illinois nursing home, where she first asked staff to undertake an experiment in empathy in the early 2010s. Her team members were invited to move in for days-long stretches, adopt a diagnosis commonly seen in the facility and then go through all of the care processes and challenges real residents faced.

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2023

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Gray Panthers featured on Sidedoor podcast "Wrinkled Radicals" from the Smithsonian Institution

When Maggie Kuhn was forced to retire from the job she loved at age 65, her colleagues gave her a sewing machine as a parting gift. Outraged, she shut the sewing machine in a closet and, instead, stitched together the first-ever movement against ageism in the U.S. The Gray Panthers would galvanize gray haired citizenry and youth alike to challenge the way Americans think about aging.

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Creating unity for positive change in nursing homes, Michelle Arnot's Guest Column in McKnight's

McKnight's Long-Term Care News

In an effort to be a catalyst for positive change — change that comes through unified approaches and balanced discourse — Gray Panthers NYC (GPNYC) is committed to bringing people and organizations together to break out of the group think of the status quo that appears to be keeping us at odds with each other and therefore unable to find common ground. 

Nursing home coalition advances plans to fix long-term care on 3 fronts

McKnight's Long-Term Care News

Highlighted were plans for a new pilot for a nurse aide apprenticeship program, tools to strengthen resident councils, and meetings to raise awareness of facility renovation needs. The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition was formed in the wake of a 2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that industry leaders described as a wake-up call

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Nursing home coalition advances plans to fix long-term care on 3 fronts

McKnight's Long-Term Care News

A national long-term care coalition gave an update Tuesday on their action plans to address the fundamental issues facing the LTC sector. The event was hosted by Gray Panthers NYC as part of the Transformation Tuesday series. A full recording of the webinar can be found here.

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Creating unity for positive change in nursing homes

McKnight's Long-Term Care News

In an effort to be a catalyst for positive change — change that comes through unified approaches and balanced discourse — Gray Panthers NYC (GPNYC) is committed to bringing people and organizations together to break out of the group think of the status quo that appears to be keeping us at odds with each other and therefore unable to find common ground. 

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Quality Of Life For The Aging LGBTQ+ Population

Queerful

As the population gets older, organizations are moving to fit their needs. In New York, a group called Gray Panthers NYC is dedicated to improving quality of life for older people, including LGBTQ+ seniors. Queerful spoke with their president, Jack Kupferman, about some of the issues queer seniors face. 

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DISCUSS TRANSFORMING NURSING HOMES 

I On Politics, Queens Gazette, March 08, 2023  

On February 14, Valentine’s Day, Assembly Member Ron Kim and the Gray Panthers, led by their president Jack Kupferman, Vice President Michelle Arnot, and Rachel Bennett, founder of The Nursing Home Card Project, met with Senator Ron Wyden to discuss nursing home transformation. They were joined by Joanne Rader of the Live Oak Project.

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The Killing of Seniors in New York is Rising

February 20, 2023, The Independent

In New York, the elderly folks are frightened about the consistent increase in crime against seniors. Some have become unwilling to return to senior centers, others have signed up for defense classes hoping to be able to defend themselves. While many have insulated themselves to avoid being attacked.

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“This is everybody’s worst nightmare,” said Jack Kupferman, 67, president of Gray Panthers NYC, an organization that grew out of a movement to fight ageism.

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Jack Kupferman & Gray Panthers NYC Commentary on 74-Year-Old NY Resident's Murder

Thank you to Maria Cramer and the New York Times for focusing on these horrific events. “This is everybody’s worst nightmare,” said Jack Kupferman, president of the Gray Panthers NYC.

 

"74-Year-Old’s Killing Underscores Rise in Attacks on Older New Yorkers," By Maria Cramer, New York Times, Feb. 19, 2023

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2022

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Jack Kupferman on BronxNet - Bronx Social Justice and Anti-Violence Forums

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Remembering Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers founder, 27 years after her passing

Germantown Info Hub, April 22, 2022

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2021

 

Weekly Update 9/9 (Transformation Tuesdays)

COVID Newsletter of Manhattan Borough President Gale BrewerSeptember 9, 2021

 

Gray Panthers NYC Featured on “A New Day” (begins at 24:20 mark)

WBAI RadioAugust 17, 2021

 

High Level Political Forum 2021 Statement for Stakeholder Group on Aging

Division for Sustainable Development Goals, The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), United Nations, July 14, 2021

 

Ep. 52 The Gray Panthers with Jack Kupferman

The Healthcare Confidential Podcast (Helium Radio Network), June 21, 2021

 

Honoring Nursing Home Lives Lost: Age Wave CEO Ken Dychtwald and Author Lynn Casteel-Harper Join A Free Virtual Event

GPNYC Press ReleaseMay 20, 2021 

 

In Search of a Place to Cry: The Gray Panthers COVID Memorial

CounterPunch, May 17, 2021

 

The Life & Times of a Tireless Champion for the Aging

VoiceAmerica.com, April 26, 2021

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Gray Panthers to Host National Day of Remembrance Honoring Nursing Home Lives Lost

Broadway World, April 26, 2021

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Episode 110: Women Make History: Maggie Kuhn and the Gray Panthers

Into the Fold: Issues in Mental Health Podcast, March 30, 2021

 

2020

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The Forgotten History of the Radical ‘Elders of the Tribe’

The New York Times, September 8, 2020

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Let’s Get Real About Aging: COVID-19 and Ageism

WestView News, June 3, 2020

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2019 

 

Ageism Has No Place in the Presidential Election

In These Times, October 23, 2019

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Who Was Maggie Kuhn, Co-Founder of the Elder Activist Group the Gray Panthers?

TeenVogue, August 2, 2019

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Older Activists Are Sick of Hearing Concerns About Joe Biden’s Age

Daily Beast, August 26, 2019

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Faces of Resistance

Good Trouble Magazine, February 2, 2019

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2018

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The Spirit of Gray Panthers Stirs to Life

Herald-Tribune, November 20, 2018

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What’s Fueling the Anti-Ageism Movement?

Jeanetteleardi.com, November 12, 2018

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Gray Panthers – A Movement Based On A Struggle Against
Ageism

NectarNews, August 2, 2018

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2017

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Opinion | In Search of a Word That Won’t Offend “Old” People

The Washington Post, December 29, 2017

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Beyond Slogans – Good Practice to Count Us All In

United Nations Social Development Network, July 10, 2017

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2016

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Remembering Maggie Kuhn, Firebrand of the Aged

The Epoch Times, December 1, 2016

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Health Department Took up to Six Years to Fine Nursing Homes for Violations

United Nations Social Development Network, July 10, 2017

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2015

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Seniors Need a Safer Queens Boulevard

Queens News, October 2, 2015

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2014

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Where does your country stand in the global discussion on older persons?

IFA 12th Global Conference on Ageing, June 2, 2014

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2011

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Gray Panthers Call PPW Bike Lane Battle 'Ageist'

Patch, June 8, 2011

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2007

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Judy Lear, Activist, Gray Panthers NYC

Gothamist, March 7, 2008

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2005

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Elder Rights

Catching the Wave, 2005

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MAGGIE KUHN AND THE GRAY PANTHERS

New York Post, March 21, 2005

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1995

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Maggie Kuhn, 89, the Founder Of the Gray Panthers, Is Dead

April 23, 1995, The New York Times

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1981

 

Gray Panther Founder and a Family of Choice

The New York TimesJune 22, 1981

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1980

 

Organization for Elderly Fighting Bias

The New York Times, May 25, 1980

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1977

 

The Old-Age Lobby Has a Loud Voice in Washington

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The New York Times, October 30, 1977

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Gray Panthers Fighting Society's Treatment of the Elderly

The New York Times, October 29, 1977

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1972 

 

Gray Panthers Out to Liberate Aged

The New York Times, May 21, 1972

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