The Hinsdalean - Community journalism the way it was meant to be

Sometimes the pain of loss is too difficult to express in words. So Laura Cottrell, bereavement director at Amita St. Thomas Hospice, might ask participants in a grief support group to use a hammer...

Pets bring comfort on journey as daugther copes with loss of dad Kathy Burns started grieving long before she lost her dad last year. The process began about five years earlier, when her father was...

The winter months can bring a variety of experiences and expectations that can leave us feeling at times elevated and at other times exhausted. While some things are entirely out of our control, such...

Caregiving requires individuals to employ a number of skills in a variety of roles - and to do so with a great degree of flexibility. "In many ways caregiving requires that you become ready for...

"Consider the way she has taught me to tenderly pull up his socks and cover him with a quilt, put drops in his eyes, rub powder on a rash, splash his neck with Old Spice, then bend down to kiss his...

Bette Davis had it wrong. Remember her famous line? "Old age ain't any place for sissies." Seriously? What part of life is for sissies? Toddlers are on a straight uphill battle learning how to walk,...

Often, when we think about aging, we think about a version of ourselves that somehow gets eroded over time. We tend to have a negative attitude toward aging; this seems to be reinforced in our own...

"It's not about staying young. It's about acknowledging what is truly happening to you." That was among the insights Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich shared with about...

"To be alive is to be aging." That's one of the messages of a new website devoted to helping connect those who are aging and their loved ones with information and resources. The website,...

"Age is not important unless you're a cheese." - Helen Hayes Ahh, if only that were true. But in this age-obsessed society, a person's age does matter - in innumerable ways. Unfortunately, when we...

Up until a few of years ago, Lop Chin could climb ladders "like a monkey" and hold his own against his son on the ping pong table. Turning 60, however, seemed to usher in a sensory slowdown and...

Five years ago, Jim Horn retired after practicing law for more than 35 years. "To be honest, I did not have a plan going forward other than to just withdraw from the professional world and live a heal...

The number 85 is a target for Hinsdale's Bill Brandenburg. He's already reached it in terms of age; the goal now is to match it (or lower) with his golf stroke total. "I shoot my age fairly...

Ly Hotchkin doesn't mind being 94. She misses having a drivers license and better eyesight, but she still enjoys laughing with people she loves over a good drink. That wasn't the case 18 months ago....

As a physician, I want to emphasize that discussing end-of-life care is not just for the elderly and the dying. The topic is of urgent importance for everyone, even though conversations about our...

Shortly after her divorce, Julia Sweeney bought a little bungalow in Hollywood and imagined a wonderful life there - living alone, entertaining friends and spending afternoons listening to...

In a September 2015 column, I announced the formation of an ad-hoc advisory board in conjunction with our paper's series spotlighting mental health issues. Two years later, that advisory board...