WBFO Older Adults News Desk

Frozen meal pick-ups are just one of the ways Erie County’s Department of Senior Services has had to adapt it’s congregate dining program throughout the pandemic.

What was supposed to be a picket demanding better wages, turned into something closer to a party atmosphere Wednesday outside Buffalo Community Healthcare Center.

Weinberg Campus employees say the long-stalled sale of the facility to a for-profit nursing home chain is hurting their ability to get a long-term contract.

Buffalo and Erie County Stopping Abuse in the Family Environment, or BE SAFE, is a collaborative aiding victims of domestic violence, especially more vulnerable populations. It’s getting a million-dollar boost from the federal government to supplement efforts to protect and advocate for elderly and disabled victims.

Whoever Buffalo’s next mayor is — be it Byron Brown or India Walton — has to balance the wishes of older homeowners who want to age in place, with the market demands of young families looking for their first homes.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that she has apologized to family members of nursing home residents who died at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York.

For many years, there has been a belief in a connection between older women drinking a lot of coffee or tea and high rates of breast cancer. Not so, says a new study from the University at Buffalo.

According to state data, 22% of nursing home staff in Western New York are unvaccinated. Only the Mohawk Valley region has a higher percentage of unvaxxed nursing home staff.

Erie County’s series of nursing home regulations, known as Ruthie’s Law, are “unlawful, unconstitutional and unenforceable,” a New York State Supreme Court justice ruled this week.

Rep. Brian Higgins (D-Buffalo) is co-sponsoring legislation that aims to provide a significant annual investment in the home and community-based care economy. He appeared Tuesday in Buffalo, joined by union leaders, workers and advocates, pushing for inclusion of the Better Care, Better Jobs Act in the federal government’s broader Build Back Better compromise bill.