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Harvey Weiss, center, dances during a Granpods event at Carter\u2019s in Beacon on Feb. 19. The group organizes social outings for older people to combat social isolation.<\/p>\n
Kelly Marsh\/For the Times Union<\/p>\n
On a recent Thursday evening, drinks flowed and plates of pizza, fries and chicken fingers disappeared at Carter\u2019s, a restaurant and event space in Beacon. Despite a last-minute change of venue, more than 20 people attended. Some transformed a corner of the dining room into an impromptu dance floor. By the time Earth, Wind & Fire\u2019s \u201cBoogie Wonderland\u201d filled the room, even the shyest were on their feet.<\/p>\n
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It sounds like a typical night at a popular Hudson Valley bar. But the average age of these party animals was 81. Many hadn\u2019t been dancing in years.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m enjoying my golden years,\u201d said Stephanie Ward, microphone in hand, before she began singing Otis Redding\u2019s \u201c(Sittin\u2019 on) The Dock of the Bay,\u201d swaying from side to side, her fingers pointing upward.<\/p>\n
Those same hands had taken care of her ailing mother, who passed away three years ago at 93. Ward then moved to Beacon from New York City because she wanted to \u201cenjoy her golden years,\u201d a phrase that has become a motto of sorts as she\u2019s entered her 70s.<\/p>\n
Unlike Redding\u2019s melancholic song, Ward isn\u2019t sitting idly by these days. She and a group of seniors from the Dutchess County Office for the Aging\u2019s Friendship Center<\/a> have found a new avenue for connection and enrichment in this later stage of life: Granpods<\/a>, an initiative that brings older adults together in community spaces for hangouts and adventures.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not settling for this belief that life has ended and there isn\u2019t more to explore,\u201d said Beacon resident Jonas Weitzman, a 30-year-old nursing home administrator who founded Granpods in October. \u201cWe\u2019re not acquiescing to the end of our days. We are present, experiencing it, smiling. We are joyous.\u201d<\/p>\n Twice a month, Granpods gets older residents of Dutchess and Orange counties into the world\u00a0\u2014 into cooking classes, cafe hangouts and an intergenerational morning dance party<\/a>. For them, fun is an act of defiance, a rebuttal to the tired notion that life is over after retirement, that aging means isolation, dementia, or the confines of a nursing home. As Weitzman puts it, \u201cgood hangs have no age limit.\u201d<\/p>\n Scenes from Granpods\u2019 event in Beacon earlier this month.<\/p>\n Kelly Marsh\/For the Times Union<\/p>\n Granpods launched as New York\u2019s population is rapidly aging. About 4.6 million state residents are 60 or older, a share projected to make up a quarter of the population by 2030. The shift is driving a growing demand for home care, as most older adults prefer to age in place<\/a>. Yet that option is often out of reach due to poverty<\/a> and a severe shortage of home care workers, which leaves many families scrambling.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n At the same time, loneliness has emerged as a public health concern, particularly among older adults. At least one-third of adults 65 and older report feeling lonely<\/a> \u2014 a condition linked to higher risks of dementia and early death<\/a>. Weitzman says Granpods\u2019 small-group, community-based approach aims to tackle two crises at once by \u201cbusting the walls down of nursing homes (and) ending the isolation and expense of home care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSeniors need to get out, they need to be active, they need fellowship. Because now seniors sometimes get depressed, they get dementia. It helps them to live longer and to enjoy life,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI never thought that I was going to have this much fun in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n A fun solution to a systemic problem<\/p>\n Weitzman never intended to go into elderly care. In 2020, he was working for a hospitality startup in New York City when his grandmother developed a heart arrhythmia that eventually landed her in a nursing home. Weitzman said the quality of life there \u201cwas not where it could be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThat person is eating instant mashed potatoes slathered in the worst-looking gravy I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d he remembers thinking. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for the aide to come help them for two hours. This can\u2019t go on.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoping to improve nursing homes, Weitzman left his career in Manhattan to make $14 an hour \u201cwiping butts and giving showers\u201d as a certified nursing assistant in New Mexico. The work was grueling, but he was hooked.<\/p>\n \u201cHumanity is just happening at all times,\u201d he said about nursing homes.<\/p>\n Granpods founder Jonas Weitzman, right, dances with members. Weitzman founded the club after working in nursing homes and seeing how they can be socially isolating.<\/p>\n Kelly Marsh\/For the Times Union<\/p>\n Weitzman returned to New York a year later and passed the exam to become a nursing home administrator. His first offer was to lead the Fishkill Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing. But he was later disciplined after taking a group of residents on a trip to Dia Beacon \u2014 a decision he said drew scrutiny for the cost and the perceived risk of bringing residents outside the facility. The regional administrator then prohibited these outings, he said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Weitzman found that while nursing homes offer opportunities for socialization, they are too often sterile and restrictive in enriching residents\u2019 lives. Home care, by contrast, allows people to age in the comfort of their own homes but is prohibitively expensive, socially isolating and labor-inefficient, with one worker assigned to each individual, he said.<\/p>\n His solution was starting Granpods.<\/p>\n \u201cAll these regulations are founded with such beauty in mind,\u201d Weitzman said. \u201cBut no one actually wants to live their lives devoid of risk and under a manual.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s just electric\u2019<\/p>\n Weitzman partnered with Beacon\u2019s Friendship Center, where site manager Ellen Gersh, who is 65, was immediately on board. For Granpods\u2019 first event, they took a small group of seniors apple- and pumpkin-picking. The next day, another group turned the harvest into a three-course meal in the industrial kitchen at River Valley Arts Center in Wappingers Falls.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n So far, Granpods has hosted five events, all free with transportation provided. Weitzman relies on donations to keep the party going and has raised $2,000 from friends and family. The next event\u00a0\u2014 another Brew and Groove dance party\u00a0\u2014 is set for March at Beacon\u2019s Kitchen and Coffee.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just electric,\u201d Weitzman said about the recent hangouts, which bring different generations together.<\/p>\n So much can be learned from listening to an elder\u2019s wisdom, but the seniors are reaping the benefits, too, Weitzman said. Stephanie Fogerty, who barely spoke at the first event, now belts out \u201cEarth Angel\u201d for the group every chance she gets.<\/p>\n Left: Cathy Klitfel and Ernestine \u201cTina\u201d Blount. Right: Ellen Gersh and Larry Levy.<\/p>\n Kelly Marsh\/For the Times Union<\/p>\n Top: Cathy Klitfel and Ernestine \u201cTina\u201d Blount. Bottom: Ellen Gersh and Larry Levy.<\/p>\n Kelly Marsh\/For the Times Union Granpods member Ernestine \u201cTina\u201d Blount, left, talks with Graiden B. during an event.<\/p>\n Kelly Marsh\/For the Times Union<\/p>\n At 92, Evelyn McNiff said she would likely be home watching television if not for Granpods. On Thursday evening, however, she stepped onto the dance floor multiple times despite her limited mobility.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n For now, Granpods operates as a party organizer under a nonprofit, which provides insurance, run by two of Weitzman\u2019s friends. Social Adult Day Services<\/a> are the closest model, Weitzman said, but that doesn\u2019t allow for bringing seniors to different locations. Weitzman ultimately hopes to grow Granpods into a licensed agency that provides a lower-cost version of home care across the Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n Ernestine \u201cTina\u201d Blount, 88, was one of the seniors reluctant to join at first. But by the end of the evening on Thursday, Blount swayed in a slow dance with Weitzman, her eyes closed and grinning ear to ear, as Gersh performed Martin Hamlisch\u2019s \u201cWhat I Did for Love.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a culture, we\u2019ve said to (older adults), \u2018You have to go to something called a center each day, so this is the allotment you\u2019re supposed to take up,\u2019\u201d Weitzman said later. \u201cNah. Let\u2019s take you to a bar. Let\u2019s take you to an apple orchard. Let\u2019s take up space, dudes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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