A mere couple of blogs ago, I shared my concern, based on excellent McKnight’s reportage, that seniors are becoming just as addicted to their devices as young people. That seemed shocking, given our...
Passion isn’t enough
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 31, 2024
With each facility tour you give and prospective admission you consider, never forget that families like mine, whose hearts are breaking, cling desperately to every word and promise.
The scourge of screen time
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 11, 2024
Usually, we can safely rely on seniors to set an inspiring example for younger folks to emulate. They unselfishly share the wisdom acquired with age to help successive generations overcome current challenges,...
Plugging in to the source
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 14, 2023
Somewhere down the road, when I walk through the front doors of your long-term care facility on my first day as a resident, I hope to move with even half the vigor 80-year-old Barry Manilow showed as he...
Mind over math
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 07, 2023
So here’s a frightening question: If these existential calculations are already taking over my life while I’m still working and living independently, how much more tyrannical will this mortality math...
Better together
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 30, 2023
An hour or so before the siren in our long-term care factory blasted the official start of the work day, and feeling a heightened level of job-related stress, I strolled into a colleague’s office uninvited...
The hypocrisy of staffing mandates
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 19, 2023
Absorbed as you probably are in fighting through the long-term care staffing crisis while parrying a CMS mandate, I wouldn’t blame you for not noticing. But at airports across America, big planes are...
A table on the patio
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 07, 2023
Through countless decades, multiple relationships and what feels like dozens of marriages (actually only two, but it’s still early today), this is pretty much the extent of my accrued knowledge: Women...
No more lonely nights?
By
Gary Tetz
Aug 10, 2023
No one knows better than long-term care folks the unfortunate toll cognitive decline can take. So if you’re like me, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, you’re always interested in ways to keep your...
An unwelcome warning
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 27, 2023
While plodding a narrow, precipitous path high on the flank of Mt. Rainier this week, I saw a father and his young daughter approaching on the trail. She was an adorable child of maybe 4 or 5, all decked...