In a death-phobic nation, long-term care embraces the ultimate privilege
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 21, 2022
Some in long-term care wake up thinking of pay cuts, business survival or reform. Me? I awoke this morning thinking about cremation.
Hand-wringing about handshakes
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 24, 2022
Yesterday, I did something I haven’t done in more than two years. Something I said I’d never do again. Something I’m not proud of. Something I should probably bring up with my therapist, or in confession. ...
Things I Think | All about the music
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 01, 2021
During trying times in long-term care, how do leaders and staff stay focused on what’s most important—caring for seniors?
When good men say nothing
By
Gary Tetz
Aug 05, 2021
Though Genesis HealthCare is making vaccinations for long-term care workers mandatory, I’m not so foolish as to reveal my own true feelings about the requirement. I fear the warring ghosts of liberty...
After the train
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 08, 2021
There’s a hopeful phrase we started hearing a lot from long-term care leaders, residents and staff when the vaccines first arrived—“a light at the end of the tunnel.” Invariably some wise-guy or...
Lord of the Rings
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 04, 2021
After mocking wearers of Apple watches not so long ago, citing an annoying interaction that took place in a nursing home lobby, I finally got one myself. I realize this makes me a hypocrite, and I’m...
Paul Revere rides again
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 12, 2020
Where is Paul Revere when we need him? It seems like he should be racing through every hamlet and long-term care facility in America shrieking, “The vaccine is coming! The vaccine is coming!”
Love in the air
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 20, 2020
Love was in the air this Valentine’s Day, and in the days before and after. Let me tell you the ways.
Doing the Jellyfish
By
Gary Tetz
May 16, 2019
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...