Via WPSU | By Valeria Quiñones | News Lab at Penn State

Kathy Dodson, 67, has been working at the Poof-Slinky factory in Hollidaysburg for 30 years. She said she still hopes to retire soon, but she recently suffered a blood clot that sent her to the hospital and into debt.

Dodson said she needs to quit working in order to move into low-income housing, her most affordable living option, but with the rising cost of living along with her new medical bills she feels farther and farther from retirement.

The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living is causing some older workers to put off retirement.

“I would like to. But financially I know I can’t, even though I need to to get into low-income housing. I’m 67. I want to retire.” Dodson said. “But I still have the energy and I still have the drive to get out there. That’s. That’s me. I’m lucky. I’ve been very lucky. I didn’t get sick till I was 60. That’s when my health plummeted.”

Read the full article here