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
As minimum wage increases, aging agencies use TikTok to hire caregivers Kathy Ritchie Dec. 16, 2022
Drug and alcohol use is on the rise among seniors, yet rehab is out of reach for many Kathy Ritchie Dec. 14, 2022
Access to health care is a big challenge for older adults in Verde Valley Kathy Ritchie Dec. 12, 2022
More older adults are dying from alcohol and drug abuse Kathy Ritchie Dec. 12, 2022
Actor Chris Hemsworth learned his risk for developing Alzheimer's. Should you? Kathy Ritchie Dec. 12, 2022
November saw more than 2,000 nursing home jobs added Kathy Ritchie Dec. 6, 2022
Chandler organization connects older adults with much needed services Kathy Ritchie Dec. 5, 2022
Doctors should talk to older patients about sexual intimacy Kathy Ritchie Dec. 1, 2022
This company is building 4,500 affordable housing units in AZ Kathy Ritchie Dec. 1, 2022
Some women are turning to marijuana to help with perimenopause Kathy Ritchie Nov. 29, 2022
Biden launches 6-week campaign to get more older adults vaccinated Kathy Ritchie Nov. 23, 2022
Caring for someone with Alzheimer's this holiday? Here are tips to help Kathy Ritchie Nov. 23, 2022
Why nursing homes may be skipping the COVID-19 vaccine Kathy Ritchie Nov. 22, 2022
Banner Alzheimer’s wants to help doctors better treat people living with dementia Kathy Ritchie Nov. 21, 2022
Roughly 80% of nursing home residents on Medicare have been prescribed a psychotropic drug Kathy Ritchie Nov. 21, 2022
Older adults living with HIV or AIDS often struggle with isolation. This group aims to change that Kathy Ritchie Nov. 21, 2022
Nearly 1 in 4 suicides in AZ involve a person 65 and older Kathy Ritchie Nov. 14, 2022
Phoenix voters share their worries as they cast their ballots Kathy Ritchie Nov. 9, 2022
Caring for children with disabilities can lead to depression. This organization aims to change that Kathy Ritchie Nov. 4, 2022
Legalizing marijuana could have a positive impact for nursing homes Kathy Ritchie Nov. 4, 2022
Why the growing cost of aging and long-term care should be political issues Kathy Ritchie Oct. 31, 2022
We're getting older and sicker. The solutions are there, but will we make the investments? Kathy Ritchie Oct. 31, 2022
The number of LGBTQ voters is projected to increase dramatically. What does that mean for Arizona? Kathy Ritchie Oct. 31, 2022
Groups address housing concerns for people aging on the spectrum Kathy Ritchie Oct. 27, 2022
From Gen X to Z, everyone is navigating the caregiving journey their own ways Kathy Ritchie Oct. 24, 2022

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