Before They Go Missing

She had seventeen house plants. Each one named. Each one watered on a schedule she kept in a little notebook by her kitchen window. Margaret was 71. She hadn't left her apartment in six weeks. Not because she couldn't. Because there was nowhere to go and nobody who would notice if she did.This is the episode that started everything.THE EMPTY ROOM is about the kind of going missing nobody talks about — not dramatic, not sudden, but slow and quiet and completely invisible to everyone around you. It is about Margaret. It is about the 14.7 million Americans over 65 living alone right now. It is about the neighbor who almost didn't knock. And it is about what changes when somebody finally does.THE NUMBER THIS WEEKFifty-eight hours. That is the average amount of time that passes between when an elderly person dies alone at home and when anyone realizes they are gone. Let that sit for a second.IN THIS EPISODE The story of Margaret and what seventeen house plants have to do with survivalWhy one in four people worldwide have no one they would call in a crisisThe friendship recession and how we got hereWhat it actually means that the Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemicWhy we stopped knocking on each other's doors and what it is costing us every single dayWhat community living changes about all of itTHIS WEEK'S QUESTIONWho in your life has seventeen house plants and no one to notice when they stop watering them? Who is one knock away from being found?SHARE YOUR STORYDo you know someone who is disappearing? Have you been there yourself? Ann wants to hear [email protected] WITH [email protected]/btgmpodcastIF THIS EPISODE HITS HOME988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988Institute on Aging Friendship Line, for adults 60+, 24/7 — 800-971-0016Before They Go Missing is a solo podcast by Ann Reynolds. New episodes every week. Prevention before disappearance.Follow the show. Share this episode. Leave a comment below.