It’s like a dash of smelling salts under the nose. Talking to actual long-term care residents always affects me like that: an abrupt awakening from the fog and unconsciousness of stress, distraction...
Give all your cares to Bob
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 29, 2016
So here we are at the end of 2016. It’s been kind of a brutal year — globally, nationally, personally, even as a long-term care profession. Lots of loss, much uncertainty and fear, many reasons...
Journey of Heroes deserves showing, not telling
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 15, 2016
Every year about this time, I tell you eagerly and often weepily about “The Trip.” The one where 12 veterans, many of them from World War II and living in long-term care, get to hop on a plane...
Armed, dangerous
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 06, 2016
Oh great. He’s going to talk about sarcasm. Perfect.
Squirrels vs. LTC: The Final Battle
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 01, 2016
While we’ve been focused on trivialities like HHS and CMS appointments, declining U.S. dementia rates and electing an orange President, rabid squirrels are terrorizing long-term care communities...
The elephant in the room
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 10, 2016
Nope, I won’t do it. I just won’t. This is a column about long-term care and the important issues facing our profession. I absolutely refuse to get drawn into a heated discussion about the...
Signs of the season
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 05, 2016
Once again, our planet completed its 584-trillion-mile encirclement of the sun and safely brought us back to October/November and two things that matter most — LTC conventions and baseball.
Surviving the night shift
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 06, 2016
In a new study highlighted by McKnight’s, more than 60% of night shift workers reported “poor sleep quality, insomnia and impaired sleep-related activities of daily living.” Reading those...
The power of praise
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 01, 2016
Here’s one thing baseball has taught me about long-term care—all financial problems would disappear if we priced our services like ballpark beer. But there’s another lesson to be learned.
Accept and connect
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 22, 2016
Thanks to the inadvertent generosity of Starbucks, I didn’t have to climb a mountain in my bare feet or learn to speak Tibetan to discover the secret of peace and happiness. It was delivered personally...