Let’s Celebrate Grandparents’ Day Together

This year we will celebrate National Grandparents’ Day on Sunday, September 13, 2026.  We can use this year’s commemoration to address loneliness and isolation—a challenge facing all people, including the elderly.

In 2023 Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made addressing loneliness and isolation a focal point of his second term and declared it a public health crisis.  And there is good reason given the increased mortality associated with loneliness—equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.  This astounding figure should surprise us all and is attributable to the impact that loneliness and isolation have on anxiety, dementia, depression, heart disease and stroke.

To address the crisis, Dr. Murphy recommended that we: 

• learn more about isolation and loneliness,  
• build a culture of connection, 
• strengthen social connections in local communities,
• implement policies to improve connection,
• make reforms to social media to reduce isolation,  
• ensure health providers are trained to assess isolation and loneliness among patients

This topic is of personal relevance.  I’m fortunate to have at lease one grandparent still alive who is aging gracefully.  Despite the loss of my mother who shared a home with her, my grandmother continues to thrive because of the people, groups and institutions that have assisted her and, by extension, me.  She now lives in a local senior housing community which is safer (no stairs nor maintenance) and provides many opportunities for social gatherings in addition to a shuttle service.  Many such communities benefit from federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) which provides opportunities for seniors on fixed incomes to afford safe housing.  Local officials can support such communities via welcoming and incentivizing them via zoning and project plan approval.

She also benefits from a religious community at Carriage Lane whose members assist her with everything from rides to church for evening events, help with home maintenance and assistance with moving.  This is in addition to a steady stream of members who continuously check in on her.  There are also family friends and neighbors who have been instrumental in ensuring my grandmother is thriving.  It is personally comforting knowing that so many people care so much about her.

The community that my grandmother has is similar to the Village concept seen in communities throughout this country.  These are often volunteer-led local groups whose mission is to improve social connection via activities, events and volunteerism.  Since starting in a Boston neighborhood decades ago, such villages have spread across the country despite some challenges.  

Whether our elders’ community is a formal network or an informal patchwork is less important than that they have a community.  As we celebrate with our elders and grandparents, let us truly ensure that we celebrate them together in community on this day and every day thereafter given that their very lives depend on it.