Let’s fill 2024 with better than these bad ‘good’ ideas!
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Jan 16, 2024
When you’re driving among heavy traffic, do you ever suddenly find yourself in a right turn-only lane? And you have like 50 feet to get over to the left, or you are forced to turn right? Who in the world...
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,...
“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...
Sometimes all you need is a hug
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Dec 05, 2023
I recently had the joy of spending a week with my 2½-year-old granddaughter. One thing that stood out to me was that when she was feeling insecure, she would say, “Mom-mom, I need a hug.” Something...
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,”...
Being thankful 2023
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Nov 21, 2023
Ah yes, it is the time of year when we think about the things we are thankful for. I would guess that most people have some kind of tradition on Thanksgiving of expressing thanks. In our home, we...