My family is full of therapists, and most of us work in skilled nursing. My sister, an experienced speech language pathologist, called to commiserate about one of her patients who had difficulty swallowing. ...
Fingers crossed: Medicare Advantage may be turning around
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 22, 2023
As a long-term care provider, what’s your favorite thing about Medicare Advantage? No three-day hospital stay. And not much else. As a beneficiary of Medicare Advantage (MA), there are plenty...
Are we done with COVID? Is COVID done with us?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Jul 25, 2023
At last. I haven’t worn a mask in public in months, I’m starting to see friends again, I’m eating in restaurants again, and my new normal is the old normal. Life is good. There’s some hesitation...
Don’t let the sun go down on me
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Jun 27, 2023
Our residents living with Alzheimer’s or other dementias may find it difficult to control their behaviors at day’s end, which we know colloquially as “sundowning” because of the prevalence of the...
Back to business as unusual
By
Jean Wendland Porter
May 30, 2023
On May 11, 2023, the Public Health Emergency ended in the United States. Obviously, the whole world is celebrating the diminished COVID-19 numbers and the drop in COVID-related deaths. But we’ve been...
Nursing shortages, and why ‘nobody wants to work anymore’
By
Jean Wendland Porter
May 02, 2023
Everyone has been feeling the nursing shortage, and now the Biden administration has tightened staffing rules, and that order will become a harbinger of more skilled nursing facility crises and closings....
Staff retention today, staff retention tomorrow
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Apr 04, 2023
A recent Washington Post article caught me where I live. It wasn’t about the impact of inflation, the current geopolitical climate in Europe, or the role of microplastics in our food. This article...
Healthcare burnout may not be what you think
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Mar 07, 2023
The New York Times recently published an op-ed about how healthcare workers are “burned out” from multiple factors, including decreased staffing, pandemic challenges and increased regulatory oversight....
Our brave new world
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Feb 07, 2023
The Public Health Emergency, initiated in 2020 and continuing to the present, established a new and complex means of getting healthcare. Because many were worried about social distancing and leaving...
What’s the worst that could happen?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Jan 10, 2023
I got a board game for Christmas. It’s called The Worst Case Scenario, and requires the players to pull a card describing situations from discomfort to disaster and rate them from best to worst. Then...