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Blog archive

March 2025

About Senior Solutions
03/28/2025

Building a Bridge With Journey House, A Home Base for Former Foster Youth
03/28/2025

Come for the Knitting, Stay for the Conversation... and the Cookies
03/28/2025

Creating Safe and Smart Spaces with Home Technology
03/28/2025

Finding Joy in My Role on The Pasadena Village Board
03/28/2025

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
03/28/2025

Managing Anxiety
03/28/2025

Message from Our President: Keeping Pasadena Village Strong Together
03/28/2025

My Favorite Easter Gift
03/28/2025

The Hidden History of Black Women in WWII
03/28/2025

Urinary Tract Infection – Watch Out!
03/28/2025

Volunteer Coordinator and Blade-Runner
03/28/2025

Continuing Commitment to Combating Racism
03/26/2025

Status - March 20, 2025
03/20/2025

Goodbye and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
03/13/2025

What The Living Do by Marie Howe
03/13/2025

Racism is Not Genetic
03/11/2025

Bill Gould, The First
03/07/2025

THIS IS A CHAPTER, NOT MY WHOLE STORY
03/07/2025

Dramatic Flair: Villagers Share their Digital Art
03/03/2025

Empowering Senior LGBTQ+ Caregivers
03/03/2025

A Life Never Anticipated
03/02/2025

Eaton Fire Changes Life
03/02/2025

February 2025

Commemorating Black History Month 2025
02/28/2025

Transportation at the Pasadena Village
02/28/2025

A Look at Proposition 19
02/27/2025

Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Pasadena Village Board and Its Role
02/27/2025

Beyond and Within the Village: The Power of One
02/27/2025

Celebrating Black Voices
02/27/2025

Creatively Supporting Our Village Community
02/27/2025

Decluttering: More Than The Name Implies
02/27/2025

Hidden Gems of Forest Lawn Museum
02/27/2025

LA River Walk
02/27/2025

Message from the President
02/27/2025

Phoenix Rising
02/27/2025

1619 Conversations with West African Art
02/25/2025

The Party Line
02/24/2025

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
02/17/2025

Dreams by Langston Hughes
02/17/2025

Haiku - Four by Fritzie
02/17/2025

Haikus - Nine by Virginia
02/17/2025

Wind and Fire
02/17/2025

Partnerships Amplify Relief Efforts
02/07/2025

Another Community Giving Back
02/05/2025

Diary of Disaster Response
02/05/2025

Eaton Fire: A Community United in Loss and Recovery
02/05/2025

Healing Powers of Creative Energy
02/05/2025

Living the Mission
02/05/2025

Message from the President: Honoring Black History Month
02/05/2025

Surviving and Thriving: Elder Health Considerations After the Fires
02/05/2025

Treasure Hunting in The Ashes
02/05/2025

Villager's Stories
02/05/2025

A Beginning of Healing
02/03/2025

Hectic Evacuation From Eaton Canyon Fire
02/02/2025

Hurricanes and Fires are Different Monsters
02/02/2025

January 2025

Loneliness Kills, Social Connections Heal

By Ed Mervine
Posted: 11/27/2023
Tags: health, ed mervine

“The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory on May 3, 2023, that addresses the epidemic of loneliness and isolation currently causing chaos and negatively impacting the health of our nation, its people, and its institutions. A Surgeon General advisory is a call to action. Past advisories rallied national resources and efforts to combat tobacco use, obesity, and addiction.

In the May advisory, the Surgeon General concludes that loneliness “is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. …The harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.”

The Village to Village movement, which includes the Pasadena Village, predates the Surgeon General’s advisory and anticipated many of the advisory’s findings, recommendations, and goals.

The Village to Village movement is a response from our generation to the societal changes that created the dehumanizing and terrifying environment that confronts many, if not most, of us in the later stages of our lives. Challenged by a system that isolates and infantilizes older people, a healthcare industry that efficiently warehouses but is largely devoid of social connection, meaning or purpose, and a society focused on youth and economic growth, we decided to do it ourselves and thus the Village was born. The lives of those of us who became Villagers changed. Many of us found a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Life is more fun. It’s more meaningful, more fulfilling, and more purposeful.

Villagers’ endorsements

Listen to the voices of Pasadena Villagers talk about what the Village means to them. Purnima Barve recently joined the Village and immediately experienced a health problem in a community where she knew no one. “I feel awful,” she says, “for having been clumsy to fall: however, at the same time, I feel grateful that I fell in a place where I was surrounded by such a wonderful compassionate group of people.” Read her note here that expresses gratitude for the welcoming attitude of the Village and what it means when you are experiencing the difficulties that arise all too frequently in life. Valerie Jones, a single woman, states, “I have yet to meet an unfriendly neighbor in the Village.” Val provides an excellent description of the richness and variety of life in the Village and what that can mean to someone moving into a new community or connecting to more activity in their existing community. Their words are a clear endorsement of how the Pasadena Village’s commitment to self-governance and mutual support creates healthy communities, mends social disconnection and ends isolation.

The fact that the Village positively affects our health and adds months, if not years, to our lives seems obvious. That Villagers also have much to contribute to “a movement to mend the social fabric of our nation” (Surgeon General’s Advisory) also seems obvious. Our generation is not finished yet. How we respond to the loneliness epidemic will be part of our legacy to our children and grandchildren. We can choose to leave an example of how to create healthier communities and how life can be richer and more fulfilling.

More research and impact

Watch this space in future editions of the Voice of the Village for further discussions concerning the Pasadena Village formula for restoring the health of isolated individuals and disconnected communities. We will also explore the impact the Village movement is having statewide and nationwide.

For example, we joined with Rutgers University, the Rand Corporation and the Village Network to collaboratively develop aging research. The purpose of this collaboration is the design of research “comparing the relative effectiveness of interventions that promote healthy outcomes of greatest importance to the people participating in the research.” ( Engaging Villages as Key Partners for Healthy Aging Research) We will also discuss efforts through Village Movement California, an organization focused more locally on the environment in our state and working to make improvements for the aging population here.

We are actively creating the world we would like to inhabit.

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