While walking the beach this morning, on the Atlantic Coast where I’m taking an alleged vacation, I happened upon a marooned jellyfish left high and dry by the receding tide. Just a lifeless, weirdly...
Bring in the rocks
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 18, 2019
The troubling news that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is conducting a “comprehensive review” of nursing home regulations hit me like a truckload of giant boulders dropped on a homeless...
What must that be like?
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 04, 2019
“What must that be like?” It can serve as a mantra, helping us view each interaction, no matter how painful, with acceptance and resilience.
People read this stuff?
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 21, 2019
Will He Who Shall Not be Named start tweeting about me now? Will I get a pejorative nickname like Lyin’ Ted or Crooked HIllary? Testy Tetz perhaps?
Halloween — the ultimate staffing solution
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 01, 2018
Strolling with an adorable dog through my neighborhood at twilight last night was an eerie journey into the macabre. The neighbors’ yards have been scary for weeks — there’s an election going on,...
Poor, poor pitiful me
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 06, 2018
When I ask rehab patients about the precipitating event that brought them to therapy, they can at least answer the question. Maybe they tripped on a zucchini vine, slipped on a grape in the grocery store...
Molalla on her mind
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 05, 2018
You wouldn’t have seen any flashing lights or scurrying EMTs, but it was still a major crisis. The nursing home resident was completely out of his favorite pickles, and not just any variety would...
Escape from the blinking light
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 26, 2018
It sits on the facility reception desk, blinking bright purple as I approach, but somehow escapes my initial notice. After all, I have so very many things — urgent things, funny things, deeply profound...
Sacred moments in the therapy gym
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 14, 2018
I haven’t perched in a tree waiting for Bigfoot, or spent a morning with binoculars in a rowboat on Loch Ness. But I recently had a ringside seat for one of those elusive rehab therapy triumphs —...
Surefire warning signs that you’re living a long-term care nightmare
By
Gary Tetz
May 03, 2018
Have you ever had a long-term care nightmare? Not the waking kind, where some horrifying facility crisis leaves you muttering, “This is a nightmare.” I’m talking about a real one, the...