Imagine you’re an elderly rehab patient, maybe trying to recover mobility after a stroke, and receiving treatment in a long-term care facility. Your therapist is a ferocious taskmaster, constantly...
Don’t buy green bananas
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 27, 2024
I just bought a house. Yes, at this age. A common admonition to those on intimate terms with aging and mortality is to avoid buying green bananas. Well, I chose to laugh in the face of that bit of...
Getting your steps in
By
Gary Tetz
May 30, 2024
I and most other humans I know are obsessed with steps, and not just of the 12 variety. We wear tracking devices 24/7, like an entire society under house arrest, and monitor step counts with religious...
The saddle in the garage
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 07, 2024
For decades after his last ride, it rested on a sawhorse in a darkened corner of my father’s garage — his favorite Western saddle.
The smiling robot
By
Gary Tetz
May 16, 2024
When I was still a prepubescent boy with many questions, never once did my father take me aside and explain how smiles are made. As a result, I’ve always been a terrible smiler, simply because I never...
Swearing good, drinking bad
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 23, 2023
Last time out here, I gave long-term care professionals official permission to swear, making the case, with strong scientific support, that an occasional obscenity is actually healthy. I assume for most...
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...
Let there not be light
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 17, 2022
It’s the first command in the Biblical creation story — let there be light. But if you’re working a night shift in a long-term care facility, I need you to stop reading this right now and go turn...
Don’t spring a wellness leak
By
Gary Tetz
May 18, 2023
In a valiant attempt to achieve maximum personal and professional potential, and in support of her difficult job recruiting long-term care staff, a colleague of mine chooses one word every year on which...
I honestly love you
By
Gary Tetz
Aug 11, 2022
I know we have a lot on our minds these days. Little brain teasers like, how do we possibly replace the estimated 362,000 employees the long-term care profession has lost during the pandemic? A recent...