My desire is to empty the homeless shelters of every older woman in the community,” says Olivia Washington, associate professor, College of Nursing and Institute of Gerontology.

Washington heads a program to examine the demographic and health characteristics that contribute
to homelessness among older women. The primary aim of this program is to get these women
into appropriate housing.

“I began the study by visiting shelters and feeding centers sometimes until
two in the morning looking for African-American women who were at least 50 years old. In the first eight months, I found a hundred women who were willing to participate in the study,” Washington says.

The study found that diagnoses of medical conditions increased with the length of time a woman was homeless and that the rates of some chronic diseases such as hypertension and arthritis were higher than those found in older African-American women who lived in suitable housing. Nearly half of women who were homeless for more than 12 months reported experiencing emotional problems or mental illness. In addition, more than half of the study participants were discovered to have experienced separation, divorce or widowhood.

“The study demonstrates that the harsh living conditions associated with homelessness may affect physical, emotional and social health outcomes due to premature functional aging,” Washington says. “It lends urgency to the efforts to aid the homeless in our community.”

The Institute of Gerontology also conducted a program called Re-engaging with Life after a Disability. “Our team of anthropologists and occupational therapists created this program
to get a holistic understanding of how people respond to a disability,” says institute Director Peter Lichtenberg. “We included not only physical disabilities such as hip fractures, but also more comprehensive disabilities, such as a diagnosis of HIV.

“Perhaps most eye opening is the fact that there are twice as many environmental barriers in the urban community than reported by all the previous scientific studies,” Lichtenberg says. “Now that they are identified, we can begin to remove or overcome them.”