Ina Jaffe
Ina Jaffe is a veteran NPR correspondent covering the aging of America. Her stories on Morning Edition and All Things Considered have focused on older adults' involvement in politics and elections, dating and divorce, work and retirement, fashion and sports, as well as issues affecting long term care and end of life choices. In 2015, she was named one of the nation's top "Influencers in Aging" by PBS publication Next Avenue, which wrote "Jaffe has reinvented reporting on aging."
Jaffe also reports on politics, contributing to NPR's coverage of national elections since 2008. From her base at NPR's production center in Culver City, California, Jaffe has covered most of the region's major news events, from the beating of Rodney King to the election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She's also developed award-winning enterprise pieces. Her 2012 investigation into how the West Los Angeles VA made millions from illegally renting vacant property while ignoring plans to house homeless veterans won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists as well as a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media. A few months after the story aired, the West Los Angeles VA broke ground on supportive housing for homeless vets.
Her year-long coverage on the rising violence in California's public psychiatric hospitals won the 2011 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award as well as a Gracie Award. Her 2010 series on California's tough three strikes law was honored by the American Bar Association with the Silver Gavel Award, as well as by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, which made its debut in 1985.
Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin and DePaul University, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy, respectively.
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At least a million more home aides will be needed in the next decade, U.S. statistics suggest. And about a quarter of today's 3 million aides who help older adults avoid nursing homes are immigrants. -
According to the federal government, the top complaint about nursing homes is wrongful eviction. Advocates say nursing homes want residents who pay more but require less care. -
Loneliness and social isolation can affect health for the worse. A California hospital is training volunteers to provide companionship and friendly assistance. -
A program in Hawaii aims to reduce the number of older people who spend their final days of life in a hospital. Hawaii has one of the highest rates of hospital deaths for those over age 65 in the U.S. -
Non-drug approaches for treating aggression and other symptoms of dementia work better than antipsychotic drugs, a study finds, and are less risky. That includes teaching caregivers how to respond. -
The staff's goal was to reduce the prescription of antipsychotic drugs by 20 percent. In the first year, they cut use by 97 percent. How? By addressing the real reasons for agitation and aggression.
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An NPR probe finds many nursing homes are still prescribing schizophrenia drugs to calm dementia patients — despite FDA warnings — but only 2 percent of excessive-medication cases result in penalties.
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Way too many residents of U.S. nursing homes are on antipsychotic drugs, critics say. It's often just for the convenience of the staff, to sedate patients agitated by dementia. That's illegal. -
Longer lives means more decades of intimacy. Drugs that help male physiology match desire have affected more than just the body, men who take these pills say. -
There's good news and bad news about aging boomers, a Census Bureau report finds. They're drinking less and voting more, but they're also heavier, which could mean less independence later.
