Ina Jaffe
Ina Jaffe is a veteran NPR correspondent covering the aging of America. Her stories on Morning Edition and All Things Considered have focused on older adults' involvement in politics and elections, dating and divorce, work and retirement, fashion and sports, as well as issues affecting long term care and end of life choices. In 2015, she was named one of the nation's top "Influencers in Aging" by PBS publication Next Avenue, which wrote "Jaffe has reinvented reporting on aging."
Jaffe also reports on politics, contributing to NPR's coverage of national elections since 2008. From her base at NPR's production center in Culver City, California, Jaffe has covered most of the region's major news events, from the beating of Rodney King to the election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She's also developed award-winning enterprise pieces. Her 2012 investigation into how the West Los Angeles VA made millions from illegally renting vacant property while ignoring plans to house homeless veterans won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists as well as a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media. A few months after the story aired, the West Los Angeles VA broke ground on supportive housing for homeless vets.
Her year-long coverage on the rising violence in California's public psychiatric hospitals won the 2011 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award as well as a Gracie Award. Her 2010 series on California's tough three strikes law was honored by the American Bar Association with the Silver Gavel Award, as well as by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, which made its debut in 1985.
Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin and DePaul University, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy, respectively.
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In the remote mountains of the Japanese island of Shikoku, an old woman makes soba noodles by hand from locally grown buckwheat. It's ancient technique that is adapting to modern times. -
The population of Naoshima has fallen to 3,000. But this year, its art will attract 800,000 tourists from around the world. "The level of our sophistication has gone up considerably," says a resident. -
A remote mountain village once was home to hundreds. Now it has just 30 residents. Tsukimi Ayano, 67, is one of the younger ones. She has repopulated the village by making scarecrow-like figures. -
As Japan's population shrinks and ages, the government wants older adults to remain employed. The traditional retirement age is 60, but a few companies are welcoming those who want to keep working. -
Japan expects 7 million cases of dementia among its long-lived residents by 2025. It has started training pharmacists, bankers and postal workers in how to recognize the signs and be supportive. -
Convenience is in the eye of the generation. Increasingly, corner markets in Japan target the 27 percent of residents over 65 — offering nursing care advice and home delivery of meals and groceries. -
People who have positive images of aging and have a purpose in life live years longer than those who are negative, studies find. They also have less risk of stroke and Alzheimer's disease. -
New Mexico is using time-motion studies to sue a chain of nursing homes for fraud. State prosecutors say the facilities couldn't possibly have provided the care promised — and billed for. -
Federal rules mostly prohibit nursing homes from refusing to readmit residents after a hospital stay. But states rarely enforce the regulations. Some California families are now suing the state. -
Many struggle with tremors and balance much of the time, but when the music starts, these people dance. It gives them joy — body and soul. Scientists say dance might have lasting brain benefits, too.
