They were seniors, so I suppose they were used to being invisible. They were also veterans — a double-whammy. Add in the fact that most were from long-term care settings, and you have the perfect storm....
Molalla on her mind
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 05, 2018
You wouldn’t have seen any flashing lights or scurrying EMTs, but it was still a major crisis. The nursing home resident was completely out of his favorite pickles, and not just any variety would...
Get up and get ready
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 01, 2014
If you’re looking for an inspirational nugget to share at stand-up tomorrow morning, I might just have something for you.
Playing it forward
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 01, 2013
It wasn’t expected. He just up and died. One day he was happily walking the Earth with the rest of us, the next he was gone. I barely knew him and don’t know the back-story, just that it happened...
Prodigies in reverse
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 01, 2013
I experienced many crushing disappointments growing up. A trespassing fairy with a tooth fetish didn’t leave a dime under my pillow? Ernie and Bert aren’t brothers? Affordable healthcare isn’t...
The inevitable is here
By
Gary Tetz
Aug 09, 2018
Staffing is inadequate and erratic at many of the nation’s nursing homes?
A day at the opera?
By
Gary Tetz
May 06, 2017
We all have guilty pleasures — things we secretly enjoy but don’t have the courage to admit to long-term care colleagues at stand-up.
Clean it up, throw it out
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 06, 2015
Whenever I pass one of those cinderblock mini-storage places with double-loaded rows of strictly functional corridors, I think the same thing: “That looks like some nursing homes I’ve been...
Sleepy? Have a waffle
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 01, 2013
My initial plan was to get up early to write this column. Refreshed and invigorated by a good night’s sleep, I would leap out of bed with synapses alert and firing, and my inspired mind would cut...
Lose the bad attitude
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 01, 2012
If blatant displays of disinterested hostility were an Olympic event, I know a nurse who would have taken the gold — and maybe the silver and bronze as well.