The office next to mine is empty. Well, not completely. A few pieces of furniture, an ugly lamp and some dog-eared file folders clutter the space a long-term care colleague once occupied. But that’s...
A beautiful culture: A beautiful place to be a part of…
By
Martie Moore
Jan 12, 2024
I stood outside, looking at the building. It was nondescript and blended into the landscape as if to say, “I am unimportant.” I am ashamed that I had fleeting thoughts about the care of individuals...
Start the year smiling
By
Julie Thorson
Jan 03, 2024
Let’s start the year boldly! I, Julie Thorson, the top expert in nothing and a leader who still has a lot to learn, declare 2024 the year of smiles. Not “pleasant, I look nice on LinkedIn”...
“No man is a failure who has friends” — an MDS Merry Christmas
By
Joel VanEaton
Dec 20, 2023
As Christmas and the new year approach, I get nostalgic. I like to think back on good old childhood memories. For me those are the 1970s and ’80s. I remember one Christmas, I was probably 7 years...
The red bird: A story of connection and meaning
By
Martie Moore
Dec 15, 2023
My encounters with the red bird had been limited until a week after my mother died. I was sitting on the couch, consumed with grief when it first arrived. The red bird flew to the transom and peered...
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...
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...
Medicare Advantage: A not-so-advantageous deal for beneficiaries and providers
By
Brendan Williams
Nov 29, 2023
Open enrollment is well underway for Medicare, as television viewers inundated with cheesy insurance company ads can tell. Those ads must work. For the first time 2024 will see most Medicare...
The MDS on Christmas vacation: ‘It’s a beaut Clark, it’s a beaut!’
By
Joel VanEaton
Nov 28, 2023
I love this time of year. Christmas is on its way. I especially love the holiday movie classics, “A Christmas Story,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Miracle on 34th Street,” “White Christmas,”...
The lessons of the tree
By
Martie Moore
Nov 17, 2023
I first noticed the tree in the heat of a summer day. The expansive branches provided welcoming shade as I moved from meeting to meeting. There was a bench next to the tree, and on any given day, couples,...