“Almost done,” the doctor assured me, as she aimed her laser at my right eye. Then over the next 20 minutes, she said it several more times. By then I knew it was all a cruel deception, meant to distract...
Improve early illness recognition with two simple tools
By
Maryann R. Coletti
Shari Kist
Feb 01, 2021
Early illness recognition is central to managing resident condition change and reducing potentially avoidable hospitalizations. Every staff member, provider and family play a role in identifying when a...
How COVID-19 unmasked ageism
By
Joel Landau
Jan 25, 2021
For every occasion, even a pandemic, there appears to be a hashtag. One used to describe the coronavirus was particularly vile, particularly cruel: #BoomerRemover. There is, tragically, some truth to it,...
What 2021 has in store on the legal front
By
Neville M. Bilimoria
Jan 20, 2021
Everyone has been celebrating that 2020 is over, and who can blame them? Yet, I can’t help think the legal issues facing long term care in 2020 won’t necessarily go away in 2021. Some of the lingering...
2021: The Rest of the Story
By
Renee Kinder
Jan 14, 2021
Paul Harvey on the radio in the mornings was not something I appreciated as a child. We lived on a farm outside of town. My mom, a reporter, always had to be at work early, and the long, crack-of-dawn...
Skilled care, mental health focus needed to decrease hospitalizations
By
Gayle Morris
Jan 11, 2021
Preventing hospitalizations is as much a sign of good health in older adults as it is a way to maintain it. The burden of infection control, preventing skin breakdown, pneumonia — and the myriad other...
Why some are resisting vaccination, and how we can help
By
Steven Littlehale
Jan 10, 2021
The woeful percentages of long-term care employees willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination are going to improve. But only with time and ramped up communication efforts.
The Equalizer: A holiday story from the ‘Before’ time
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 29, 2020
She told me about her life via handwritten notes and the occasional use of a talking computer that verbalized what she painstakingly typed out. “I’ve been a cripple ever since I got polio as a...
When do we get our Rosie the Riveter moment?
By
Erin Viale
Dec 21, 2020
It’s a pandemic paradox: How can we have both a staffing crisis and an unemployment crisis? At the end of 2020, 12 million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits. This is in addition...
Rehabilitating the nursing home image
By
Steven Littlehale
Dec 14, 2020
Have you ever asked a question, even though the answer is obvious? “Would you like another homemade chocolate chip cookie?” “Do you want to sit where you have a view of the ocean?” Even when the...