Edhat Staff
A half century ago, Rona Barrett moved movie star news into the big leagues of television broadcasting, pioneering the way for women in journalism and broadcasting. Her new pioneering effort is to move needy elders into beautiful new communities of care such as the Golden Inn and Village (GIV) in Southern California’s Santa Ynez Valley, which she has built to meet that cruel need and to demonstrate how it may be addressed. She has now compellingly captured that new dedication in her first book in over 40 years, “Gray Matters.”TV’s first Hollywood gossip superstar in 1966 opened the door for Entertainment Tonight, TMZ and the current vast industry of star-gazing TV news and magazine shows. She expanded the impact of her entertainment journalism nationally in 1975 when she became a key ratings draw for ABC-TV’s initial years of Good Morning, America, and going on to host her own television series and specials. In the process, she created her Rona Barrett’s Hollywood publishing empire, employing a cult of personality that set the stage for such moguls as Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart who followed her into high-stakes eminence on TV and on the covers of their own magazines.
Miss Rona, as she was embraced by the millions who watched her nightly, is returning to publishing and to by-line with a new book about the new stars of her passionate interest… the growing army of elders “forced into homelessness for the ‘crimes’ of poverty, age and in many cases Alzheimer’s Disease” as she describes the crisis.
“Gray Matters” is her study in anecdotes and human interest stories of “the plight of older people abandoned by family, community and a government more eagerly serving greed than need.” In a book powered both by laughter and tears, she captures the human urgencies in a time when Grandma and Grandpa, whose numbers grow each year, find themselves pretty much on their own and facing a raging epidemic that steals minds. Since tiring of fame and leaving her highly-rated TV presence and successful publications to address human needs more personally, Miss Rona has built the Rona Barrett Foundation to pioneer a whole new dedication… direct provision of dignified affordable housing, care, nutrition, human companionship and other needs for the elderly.
All proceeds of “Gray Matters” will go to sustaining her remarkable revolution in elder care which she and her foundation have created in the Santa Ynez Valley of Southern California, establishing a prototype for similar compassionate projects she hopes will be informed and undertaken across the United States. “We hope to provide a living evidence of how this can be done and the great service to individuals and to society which results,” Barrett notes. “We will be happy to inspire and to guide others in creating similar open-hearted environments. The geography.. the wasteland.. of Alzheimer’s and of elder need is everywhere.”
| “Gray Matters” is a compilation of a funny and thought-provoking column Miss Rona has published for several years written to shine a spotlight on aging and the day-to-day issues confronting all seniors and their loved ones who care for them. “I know of no one who isn’t touched in some way by this blight. We are thrilled that our support includes empathetic young people as well as older citizens who have lost so many friends and loved ones.” |
Operated with the daily participation of Ms. Barrett, The Golden Inn & Village (GIV) is situated on approximately 7.3 acres in the bucolic Santa Ynez Valley community which is about 30 minutes north of Santa Barbara. Nearly 100 underserved senior citizens are current independent residents at the GIV Campus. It is the first AFFORDABLE independent living Campus in the Santa Ynez Valley which was conceptualized and spearheaded by The Rona Barrett Foundation, a 17 year-old non-profit dedicated to providing care services and housing solutions for in-need and vulnerable senior citizens. Nearly 70 percent of the residents at one time in their lives and the majority, most recently, were homeless or living in compromised situations, such as cars, trucks, campers or motels.
All proceeds from the book will be earmarked for the completion of the next PHASE of her continuum of care residential senior citizen campus at the GIV in the Santa Ynez Valley. Under the Foundation’s vision of having a continuum of care model – which would bring housing and healthcare under one roof — seniors who reside at the Golden Inn & Village will eventually have the opportunity to seamlessly transition, due to health and life circumstances, to either Alzheimer’s or Assisted Living care without ever having to leave the Golden Inn & Village.
Named after Rona’s dad, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, Harry’s House at the Golden Inn & Village – A Home for Alzheimer’s and Assisted Living at The Golden Inn & Village is scheduled to open in 2018.
“Gray Matters” can be purchased for $27 including tax at www.RonaBarrettFoundation.
