Photo: Jackie Molloy for KFF Health News.
Hilda Jaffe, 102, in her apartment in New York. Jaffe enjoys doing puzzles, reading, volunteering, and attending cultural events.
I have always thought that a city like New York, with many kinds of public transportation and easy walking to whatever you need, is the best kind of place to grow old. The problem for most of us is that we may still need a car to do the simplest things long after we can’t drive.
Here’s a story about a thriving 102-year-old doing her errands without assistance in New York. I’m convinced that part of her good fortune is not having to drive.
Judith Graham writes at the Washington Post, ” ‘The future is here,’ the email announced. Hilda Jaffe, then 88, was letting her children know that she planned to sell the family home in Verona, New Jersey. She’d decided to begin life anew on her own in a one-bedroom apartment in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan.
“Fourteen years later, Jaffe, now 102, still lives alone — just a few blocks from the frenetic lights and crowds that course through Times Square.
“She’s the rarest of seniors: a centenarian who is as sharp as a tack, who carries grocery bags in each hand when she walks back from her local market, and who takes city buses to see her physicians or attend a matinee at the Metropolitan Opera.
“Jaffe is an extraordinary example of an older adult living by herself and thriving. She cleans her own house, does her own laundry, manages her own finances, and stays in touch with a far-flung network of family and friends via email, WhatsApp and Zoom. Her 78-year-old son lives in San Jose. Her 75-year-old daughter lives in Tel Aviv.
“I’ve spoken with dozens of seniors this past year for a series of columns on older Americans living alone. Many struggle with health issues. Many are isolated and vulnerable. But a noteworthy slice of this growing group of seniors maintains a high degree of well-being. …
“Sofiya Milman is the director of human longevity studies at the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She studies people known as ‘superagers’ age 95 and older. ‘As a group, they have a very positive outlook on life’ and are notably resilient, like Jaffe, she told me.
“Qualities associated with resilience in older adults include optimism, hopefulness, an ability to adapt to changing circumstances, meaningful relationships, community connections and physical activity, according to a growing body of research on this topic.
“Jaffe has those qualities in spades, along with a ‘can-do’ attitude. ‘I never expected to be 102. I’m as surprised as everybody else that I am here.’ …
“She credits her genetic heritage, luck and her commitment to ‘keep moving,’ in that order. … Asked to describe herself, she quickly responded with ‘pragmatic.’ That means having a clear-eyed view of what she can and can’t do and making adjustments as necessary.
“Living alone suits her, she added, because she likes being independent and doing things her way. ‘If a problem comes up, I work it out,’ Jaffe said. …
“There are only some 101,000 centenarians in the United States, according to the most recent Census Bureau data. Of this small group, 15 percent live independently or conduct their lives independently while living with someone, according to Thomas Perls, the founder and director of the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians in the world. …
“About 20 percent of centenarians are, like Jaffe, free of physical or cognitive impairments, Perls said. An additional 15 percent have no age-related illnesses, such as arthritis or heart disease. …
“Every day, Jaffe tries to walk 3,000 steps — outside if the weather is good, or inside, making laps in her hallway, if the weather is bad. Her diet is simple: bread, cheese and decaffeinated coffee for breakfast; a sandwich or eggs for lunch; often chicken and a vegetable or restaurant leftovers for dinner. She never smoked, doesn’t drink alcohol and sleeps an average of eight hours each night.
“Even more important, Jaffe remains engaged with other people. She has subscriptions to the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic and a chamber music series. She participates in online events and regularly sees new exhibits at four of New York’s premier museums, where she has memberships. She’s in regular contact with family members and friends.
“Jaffe also belongs to a book club at her synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and serves on the synagogue’s adult education committee. For more than a decade, she has volunteered several times a week as a docent at the New York Public Library’s main branch on Fifth Avenue. …
“When I asked about the future, Jaffe said she doesn’t worry about what comes next. She just lives day to day.
“That change in perspective is common in later life. ‘Focusing on the present and experiencing the here and now becomes more important to older adults,’ said Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, who has studied emotional changes that accompany aging for decades. …
“Jaffe certainly understands the value of facing forward and letting go of the past. Losing her husband, Gerald Jaffe, in 2005 after 63 years of marriage was hard, she admitted, but relinquishing her life and most of her belongings in New Jersey five years later was easy. …
“ ‘It was so exciting for me, being in New York,’ she continued. ‘Every day you could do something — or nothing. … In a house in New Jersey, I would be isolated. Here, I look out the window and I see people.’ ”
More at the Post, here.
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