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...
Achieving full staff vaccination through leadership, culture and longevity
By
Kathleen O'Connor
Nov 01, 2021
It was around the time that Pfizer submitted its first vaccine trial information to federal officials that Mary Saleh, LSW, administrator of Alden Lincoln Park in Chicago, started talking with her staff...
Spring is coming… why are we adding more layers?
By
Angi Livingston
Mar 07, 2022
In addition to tracking and submitting extensive COVID-19 data to NHSN weekly and providing numerous data requests to surveyors, facilities now have to dedicate resources to populating a COVID-19 Staff...
Meatloaf as the solution to vaccinations
By
Julie Thorson
Apr 28, 2021
As leaders, our responsibilities never seem to end. During the pandemic many lives depended on us. None of us need to be reminded of that, but the work is far from over. We now have a proven tool available...
Vaccines: Saving face
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Aug 03, 2021
I watched warily as Leo wheeled his cart onto the elevator with me, his mask below his nose. He used to pull it up when he saw me, mindful of the many conversations we’d had about getting the vaccine,...
Vaccination nation
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 11, 2021
Last week an insurance adjuster came over to scope out some storm damage. Anyone who enters my home must be vaccinated or wear a mask (I keep clean masks at the front door. I’m nice like that). If...
Moving the needle in nursing home vaccination rates
By
Michael Wasserman
Leslie Eber
Feb 14, 2024
On February 29, 2020, the first Coronavirus nursing home outbreak was reported by the media. Experts in geriatric and long-term care medicine immediately understood the dangers to nursing home residents....
Building staff confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines
By
Rachel Shearer
Jun 09, 2021
Six months after the COVID-19 vaccines first became available, just 55% of the CNAs, nurses and therapists who work at our 50-bed skilled nursing facility have chosen to get vaccinated. It’s a challenge,...
A silver lining to vaccine hesitancy
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 10, 2021
One of many puzzling memories from my childhood is witnessing my father’s failed attempt late one dark Canadian night to convince an unwilling horse to walk up a rickety ramp into the back of our pickup...
Nursing home vaccine mandates: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
By
Kevin Lawrence
Aug 09, 2021
Many people might not fully realize what long-term care operators are facing when it comes to whether to require COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment. Here’s a breakdown in simple terms....