{"id":255351,"date":"2026-07-30T10:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T10:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255351\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T10:04:09","slug":"how-pennsylvania-could-care-for-its-aging-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255351\/","title":{"rendered":"How Pennsylvania could care for its aging population"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly 30, 2026 | 5:30 AM&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/download-1080x1080.webp\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>WITF featured the first episode of Designing Dignity on air and will include the whole series on The Morning Agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Designing Dignity is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">six-part series<\/a> from WESA exploring one of the most pressing questions facing Pennsylvania: Is the state prepared for an aging population?<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\/2026-06-21\/designing-dignity-pennsylvania-dementia-japan\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">episode one<\/a>, WESA reporter Kiley Koscinski introduces listeners to two families faced with a dementia diagnosis; one in Pittsburgh and one outside of Tokyo, Japan.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\/2026-06-22\/designing-dignity-the-caregivers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">episode two<\/a>, listeners hear about how Japan\u2019s care managers provide guidance for people living with dementia and their family caregivers as the U.S. considers how to help families navigate its quagmire of social services.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\/2026-06-24\/designing-dignity-the-visit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">episode three<\/a>, Kocinski explores Japan\u2019s effort to keep hospital spending low by delivering dementia care directly to the patient\u2019s front door.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\/2026-06-25\/designing-dignity-the-cost\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">episode four<\/a>, listeners learn about how states in the U.S. are grappling with skyrocketing costs for elder care. Could Japan\u2019s long-term care insurance program be replicated at the state level?<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\/2026-06-26\/designing-dignity-the-prototype\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">episode five<\/a>, Kocinski asks how and if robots are able to step into caregiving roles to alleviate workforce shortages as populations age and require more support. And should they?<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesanews.org\/podcast\/wesa-reports\/2026-06-29\/designing-dignity-the-community\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">episode six<\/a>, listeners learn how wrapping community around people who are declining cognitively helps to preserve their quality of life \u2014 and perhaps enrich everyone else\u2019s in the process.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"759\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WITF-LOGO_white_color-1920x759.png\" alt=\"WITF logo with white text and green frame\" class=\"wp-image-30470 size-medium\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Help make trusted journalism available to everyone. Support WITF today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; July 30, 2026 | 5:30 AM&#13; WITF featured the first episode of Designing Dignity on air and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-255351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}