Strategic planning for long-term health and safety
By
Kenny Thomas
Dec 13, 2021
A year ago at this time, the world was even more uncertain than it is now. Families were not gathering for the holidays and the decision of whether to see elderly family members became a difficult one...
Courage is contagious
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 02, 2020
Facility staff have no idea if catching COVID-19 will be merely an annoyance or a life-threatening battle, a parking ticket or a death sentence. But still, they go.
Salvation by social media
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 21, 2021
I always thought it was only good for destroying the world, but now I’m here to boldly predict that social media will ultimately save us. After the horrors we’ve been through these past few years...
Focus on life safety during the management of COVID-19
By
Stan Szpytek
Mar 24, 2020
Note: This story was updated on May 12 to reflect new regulatory changes. As skilled nursing facilities around the nation rise to the challenges of managing this current infectious disease outbreak, providers...
The importance of social distancing in a post-COVID 19 world
By
Carol Winner
Jun 29, 2020
We are living in a once-in-a-lifetime period in history in which we are targeted by a virus that takes no prisoners. It wants to destroy all in its path especially the elderly and those who work in...
Moment of truth
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 10, 2020
Now that vaccines really are imminent and long-term care staff and residents look to be first in line, you’re probably holding your breath, desperately longing for an answer to the most important question...
Managing a bah humbug holiday season
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 15, 2020
By now many of us have viewed the viral video of residents gleefully shooting soft foam balls at laughing staff members dressed as reindeer dodging through a pine-tree “forest.” It’s the kind...
With POC testing strategy, federal government continues to respond poorly to COVID-19 in nursing homes
By
Brendan Williams
Sep 08, 2020
In the federal government’s fight against COVID-19, nursing homes have effectively been left for dead. Despite a death count that began with the February outbreak in a Kirkland, Washington, nursing...
Almost done
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 04, 2021
“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...
When there Is not a good answer: Dealing with an unprecedented event inside nursing homes
By
Rebekah Bray
Oct 09, 2020
The images and news coverage from the early 2020 of devastated nurses and doctors, and the thousands of body bags and make-shift morgues in New York City, are burned in the memory of healthcare workers...