Stories of a Movement: Lived Experience Matters

The wellbeing of older adults in our society offers us the deepest look in the mirror at the state of health equity, and equity at large. As a collaboration between The SCAN Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Metta Fund, and Greater Good Studio (GGS) in 2022-2023, the GGS team traveled across five counties in California and connected with more than 100 people around their lived experiences with health and wellbeing in older age.

As these stories revealed, too often there is a gap between the people most greatly impacted by systems, and those with the power to shape systems, policies, and decisions. In listening and honoring the experiences of real people—older adults, caregivers, family members, and service providers—this research sought to lift up lived experience as wisdom, and a pathway toward real, systemic change.

This process surfaced patterns around health equity and inequities in aging that highlighted three essential themes and nine opportunity areas for how cross-sector leaders and advocates might transform the state of health equity in aging.