Kathy Ritchie

Kathy Ritchie's picture
Senior Field Correspondent - Tempe

Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets -- nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.

Most recently, she was the health and caregiving editor at Next Avenue, a national digital publication geared toward people 50-plus. While there, she oversaw a team of contributors, identified opportunities for new feature stories and series, and oversaw the completion of the 2021 John A. Hartford Foundation grant, one of Next Avenue’s largest active grants to date. Ritchie was also responsible for Next Avenue's 2022 series entitled Aging with Disabilities in America. Next Avenue is part of the Twin Cities PBS system.

Ritchie has spent most of her public media career in radio as a senior field correspondent at NPR member station, KJZZ in Phoenix. While there, Ritchie was responsible for the station’s largest newsroom collaboration, a 10-part series The State of Aging in the Valley. She also pitched and produced a four-part podcast, The Recovering Caregiver, based on her own personal experience with her mother who had frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and what life is like after dementia. The final episode was nominated for a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

Her latest podcast aims to set the record straight when it comes to menopause. Period, The End (But Not Really) debuted in September 2023.

Over the years, Ritchie has reported on the challenges facing LGBT elders, the topic of aging and intimacy, senior homelessness, ambiguous loss and grief, grandfamilies, and what it means to age in our society. Many of these stories have aired on NPR’s national magazine show, Here & Now.

And throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, Ritchie reported on the myriad challenges facing families, older adults and caregivers. That work led her to create a miniseries called, Caring in Crisis, in which she documented the experiences of “the helpers.”

Besides her professional experience in the aging space, Ritchie wrote about her mother’s journey living with dementia in a blog

Ritchie got her start in television at ABC News and later at FOX News in New York City.

Title Author(s) Publication Date
AHCCCS has started its redetermination process. Where do things stand today? Kathy Ritchie April 21, 2023
Biden executive order supports caregivers from all walks of life Kathy Ritchie April 20, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Leonard's Alzheimer's story Kathy Ritchie April 20, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Marissa goes to the state Capitol Kathy Ritchie April 13, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Tyson's mom Kathy Ritchie April 12, 2023
Caregivers gather Capitol to share proposed state caregiving plan Kathy Ritchie April 7, 2023
Circle the City seeing more seniors with memory loss Kathy Ritchie April 5, 2023
Arizona law banning gender-affirming surgery until 18 in effect Kathy Ritchie April 4, 2023
A play about two people with dementia debuts at the Arizona Theater Company Kathy Ritchie March 31, 2023
Some unhoused seniors risk losing AHCCCS coverage Kathy Ritchie March 31, 2023
Survivors of gun violence often left with physical and emotional pain Kathy Ritchie April 3, 2023
Group to survey parents with disabilities about the challenges they face Kathy Ritchie March 27, 2023
AZ to begin requalifying 2.5M AHCCCS users Kathy Ritchie March 21, 2023
How 'dementia friendly' Tempe is doing 7 years later Kathy Ritchie March 13, 2023
AARP: Work done by unpaid caregivers is worth $600B Kathy Ritchie March 13, 2023
647,000 Arizonans could lose AHCCCS coverage on April 1 Kathy Ritchie March 10, 2023
New gun violence report finds men over 85 are at high risk of suicide Kathy Ritchie March 9, 2023
AZ hospitals continue to struggle with staffing, negative operating margins Kathy Ritchie March 7, 2023
Barrow conducts FTD study, the same dementia affecting actor Bruce Willis Kathy Ritchie March 6, 2023
Republican lawmakers want a chaplain program in all nursing homes Kathy Ritchie Feb. 21, 2023
There are lots of options to screen for colon cancer Kathy Ritchie Feb. 21, 2023
Legislature debates concealed guns for college students Kathy Ritchie Feb. 20, 2023
Department of Developmental Disabilities could get more money Kathy Ritchie Feb. 17, 2023
Bill to up monthly stipend for kinship families moves forward Kathy Ritchie Feb. 16, 2023
Bill to separate state hospital operations from ADHS gains traction Kathy Ritchie Feb. 16, 2023

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