Kathy Ritchie

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Senior Field Correspondent - Tempe

Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets -- nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.

Most recently, she was the health and caregiving editor at Next Avenue, a national digital publication geared toward people 50-plus. While there, she oversaw a team of contributors, identified opportunities for new feature stories and series, and oversaw the completion of the 2021 John A. Hartford Foundation grant, one of Next Avenue’s largest active grants to date. Ritchie was also responsible for Next Avenue's 2022 series entitled Aging with Disabilities in America. Next Avenue is part of the Twin Cities PBS system.

Ritchie has spent most of her public media career in radio as a senior field correspondent at NPR member station, KJZZ in Phoenix. While there, Ritchie was responsible for the station’s largest newsroom collaboration, a 10-part series The State of Aging in the Valley. She also pitched and produced a four-part podcast, The Recovering Caregiver, based on her own personal experience with her mother who had frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and what life is like after dementia. The final episode was nominated for a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

Over the years, Ritchie has reported on the challenges facing LGBT elders, the topic of aging and intimacy, senior homelessness, ambiguous loss and grief, grandfamilies, and what it means to age in our society. Many of these stories have aired on NPR’s national magazine show, Here & Now.

And throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, Ritchie reported on the myriad challenges facing families, older adults and caregivers. That work led her to create a miniseries called, Caring in Crisis, in which she documented the experiences of “the helpers.”

Besides her professional experience in the aging space, Ritchie wrote about her mother’s journey living with dementia in a blog

Ritchie got her start in television at ABC News and later at FOX News in New York City.

Title Author(s) Publication Date
Veterans worry about potential consequences of U.S. default Kathy Ritchie May 26, 2023
Report: Underfunding for nursing home inspection agencies puts residents at risk Kathy Ritchie May 19, 2023
Despite more loneliness, less stigma around mental health Kathy Ritchie May 22, 2023
Bipartisan AZ budget includes 'unprecedented' dollars for Alzheimer's research Kathy Ritchie May 11, 2023
33,000 AHCCCS members disenrolled so far Kathy Ritchie May 11, 2023
End of COVID-19 emergency is good news, bad news for long-term care Kathy Ritchie May 8, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Teresa the kitten feeder Kathy Ritchie May 8, 2023
Voices of AZ: Vietnam War nurse describes 'hell on Earth' Kathy Ritchie May 5, 2023
Republic highlights resident-on-resident violence Kathy Ritchie May 1, 2023
Voices of Arizona: The ladies in the kitchen Kathy Ritchie May 1, 2023
Study: Employers must do more to support menopausal women Kathy Ritchie April 26, 2023
AHCCCS has started its redetermination process. Where do things stand today? Kathy Ritchie April 21, 2023
Biden executive order supports caregivers from all walks of life Kathy Ritchie April 20, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Leonard's Alzheimer's story Kathy Ritchie April 20, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Marissa goes to the state Capitol Kathy Ritchie April 13, 2023
Voices of Arizona: Tyson's mom Kathy Ritchie April 12, 2023
Caregivers gather Capitol to share proposed state caregiving plan Kathy Ritchie April 7, 2023
Circle the City seeing more seniors with memory loss Kathy Ritchie April 5, 2023
Arizona law banning gender-affirming surgery until 18 in effect Kathy Ritchie April 4, 2023
A play about two people with dementia debuts at the Arizona Theater Company Kathy Ritchie March 31, 2023
Some unhoused seniors risk losing AHCCCS coverage Kathy Ritchie March 31, 2023
Survivors of gun violence often left with physical and emotional pain Kathy Ritchie April 3, 2023
Group to survey parents with disabilities about the challenges they face Kathy Ritchie March 27, 2023
AZ to begin requalifying 2.5M AHCCCS users Kathy Ritchie March 21, 2023
How 'dementia friendly' Tempe is doing 7 years later Kathy Ritchie March 13, 2023

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