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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know The Unexpected Benefits Of Moving To A Long-Term Care Facility T he decision to move an older adult into a long- term care facility often comes with mixed emo- tions. Even when it is prompted by increasing medical needs, it can carry a sense of loss. Many older adults worry about leaving behind familiar routines and social connections, while family members struggle with guilt that they should be providing care themselves. A particular concern is whether the transition will lead to greater isolation. A new study published in JAMA In- ternal Medicine offers some reassurance: Long-term care can foster renewed participation in community life. The researchers tracked more than 600 older adults to examine how social participation changed before and after moving into long-term care. Fifty-six percent entered assisted-living facilities, and 44 percent entered nursing homes, which offer a higher level of care. The median monthly cost of care was $4,350, with 37 percent of residents supported by public programs. Five types of social engagement were assessed: spend- ing time in-person with friends or family who lived elsewhere; going out for leisure, such as to eat or watch movies and plays; attending religious services; participat- ing in clubs, classes or other organized gatherings; and volunteering. In the four years leading up to long-term care entry, participation across all five types of activities fell by roughly 2 to 5 percent each year. Moving into a facility, however, improved some elements of socialization: While going out for fun continued to drop, particularly among nursing home residents, visiting with others and volun- teering stabilized. Meanwhile, participation in clubs and attendance at religious services rose by about 16 and 13 percent, respectively. This aligns with other research showing that facilities that prioritize meaningful activities such as group out- ings, art and music programs and recreational therapy can improve residents’ quality of life and restore a sense of community. Kenneth Lam, the study’s lead author and a geriatri- cian at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said the work is part of a larger effort to understand what happens to people in these facilities. “It’s important to recognize that a third of people will move into a facility in their lifetime,” he told me. “Over half will develop a need for one once they reach 65 or older.” As a physician, Lam has often discharged patients from the hospital to nursing homes for safety reasons, but neither he nor the patients and their families had a clear sense of what those experiences would be like. Many assumed the worst - that entering long-term care would inevitably lead to social withdrawal. Yet for many residents, such moves reversed declines in social participation that began years earlier. Lam’s previous research has shown that most people move into nursing homes when they have three or more impair- ments of daily living, such as difficulty bathing, dressing themselves or getting around the home. “When you hit that point, life at home is probably becoming a little bit restricting as well,” he said. The authors caution, however, that the benefits of long-term care facilities are not evenly distributed. Some populations - such as men, non-White people and nursing home residents - were less likely to experience increases in community participation. These disparities point to the need for more individualized approaches: more accessible opportunities for leisure in nursing homes, for example, or programs designed for men and people from specific cultures. Lam advises people to consider what kind of social life they might have while evaluating long-term care options. In another recent study, he interviewed residents about how they would counsel others making this choice. A major theme that emerged was the importance of finding camaraderie and community. He hopes studies like these can help families approach these decisions with greater clarity. Many will choose dif- ferent care pathways, such as aging in place or moving in with family. The key, he said, is to “frame things in a way that helps people see the decision that’s in front of them for what it is, rather than being afraid.” Every person deserves the chance to age with dignity, purpose and a sense of belonging. Leana S. Wen, a Washington Post contributing columnist who writes the newsletter The Checkup with Dr. Wen, is an emergency physi- cian, clinical associate professor at George Washington University and author of “Lifelines: A Doc- tor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.” Previously, she served as Baltimore’s health commissioner. -Special to TheWashington Post By Leana S.Wen Opinion Commentary Case For Controlling India’s Digital Future: Looking Beyond Whatsapp &Meta Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. use. Meta doesn’t even pretend to be neutral. It rewrote WhatsApp’s privacy policy to coerce users into sharing data with Facebook, tolerated misinformation because it drove engagement, and built its fortune by monetising attention. IfWashington ever decided to weaponise its tech gi- ants — as it already has with semiconductors and cloud computing —Meta would comply without hesitation. Its loyalty lies with shareholders and US regulators, not with India’s economy. EveryWhatsApp user in India is, there- fore, vulnerable to the politics of another country. Many Indians find comfort inWhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption. That comfort is misplaced. Encryption hides the message, not the metadata —who you talk to, when, how often, and for how long. That metadata is gold for surveillance and advertising. Meta can map India’s com- mercial and social networks in extraordinary detail. It knows the country’s pulse better than many ministries. I have long warned about the dangers ofWhatsApp and Meta’s corrosive business practices. The company built its empire on the systematic erosion of privacy, the monetisation of outrage, and the manipulation of public discourse. From the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the spread of hate campaigns in India, Facebook’s actions have repeatedly shown that profit outweighs principle. In 2018, I called for Facebook to be forced to shut down WhatsApp until it could guarantee user safety. The warn- ings were ignored. Since then, the dependence has only deepened. India has treated this dependency as a matter of con- venience, not strategy. But communication infrastructure is as critical as energy or defence. When a foreign power can, at any moment, compel a private company to alter, slow, or charge for your communications, you have al- ready ceded control of your digital future. There is another way — and it works. At Vionix Biosciences, my India team recently aban- donedWhatsApp and switched to Arattai, the India-built messaging app from Zoho. The transition was effort- less and the results immediate. Arattai is faster, cleaner, and designed for real collaboration. It syncs seamlessly across phones, desktops, tablets, and even TVs. It has a “Pocket” for saving notes and files, and a “Mentions” tab that gathers every time you’re tagged in chats. Meetings are integrated directly within the app, so teams can move from text to video with one tap. Most importantly, Arattai has no ads, no trackers, and no third-party data sharing. All data stays within India, under Indian privacy laws. This is especially important for us because we are developing medical-diagnostics hardware and software, and will have large volumes of sensitive data that we need to protect. We host our AI tools and data on Krutrim— the sovereign AI cloud built by Ola — to ensure that our models and data remain on Indian infrastructure. The last thing we want is to jeop- ardise Indian sovereignty. I also use Arattai daily with my head of marketing, Alex Salkever, in Silicon Valley. Despite the distance to India, the calls are crisp, file transfers are instant, and there’s a sense of control that American tech giants can’t provide. Communication feels private again — like it should. Dependence on a foreign platform for national com- munication is complacency. The East India Company began as traders, secured monopolies through charters, won Plassey in 1757 (Indians betraying Indians), then annexed provinces via debt, divide-and-rule, and private armies — conquering all India by 1857 in a century-long creep. Today, Meta mirrors this: it entered as “free” conve- nience, locked users via net- work effects, and now holds the switch. One tweet fromWash- ington could bring India to its knees in minutes. A country that values independence cannot let another Company control its voice. Vivek Wadhwa is CEO, Vionix Biosciences. The views expressed are personal. PHOTO:CourtesyVivekWadhwa -Continued From Page 3 Photo:TheWashington Post News India Times (November 1, 2025 - November 7, 2025) November 7, 2025 4