Lawmakers must address nursing home workforce crisis to ensure quality care
By
George Linial
Mar 08, 2021
Before COVID-19, Texas nursing homes reported the worst staffing shortages in the nation. Texas projected we will be 60,000 nurses short by 2030, and that demand in nursing homes would double between 2015...
Skilled care, mental health focus needed to decrease hospitalizations
By
Gayle Morris
Jan 11, 2021
Preventing hospitalizations is as much a sign of good health in older adults as it is a way to maintain it. The burden of infection control, preventing skin breakdown, pneumonia — and the myriad other...
Where did person-directed care go?
By
Penny Cook
Mar 15, 2021
As we mark the one-year anniversary of life-altering changes brought about by COVID-19, I think about those aspects of life that left me, and those that have arrived. What has left me? Air travel,...
The shortest distance between two points
By
Noah Marco
Feb 17, 2021
Prior to 1816, it was common practice for doctors to place their ears to patients’ chests to detect the workings of hearts, lungs and other organs. That year, French physician Rene Laennec, who was...
Honoring the fallen
By
Michael Wasserman
May 08, 2024
It’s been more than four years since the onset of the tragic pandemic that took the lives of nearly a quarter million vulnerable older adults living in nursing homes. Their lives mattered. How they spent...
What would you do if you knew you would not fail?
By
Martie Moore
Oct 22, 2021
I, maybe like you, take random pictures of what catches my eye with my phone. So much so, I have over 30,000 thousand pictures in the cloud. I am sure that by the time I take my last breath, I will be...
CNAs: The forgotten soldiers in the war against COVID-19
By
John Booker
Oct 03, 2022
It’s never been more important to listen to your frontline workers in emergencies. Managers need to trust them when they offer advice or concerns, and supervisors need to know what their staff...
One incontestable pandemic truth
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 02, 2021
Though I strongly support the concept of gratefulness, I’m not much for delivering public speeches about it, even to close friends or family around the Thanksgiving table. Truth be told, I generally...
Superdodger or just lucky?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Sep 20, 2022
Some people don’t get the viruses that run rampant in their families, their SNFs, their neighborhoods, or in their cities. According to the CDC, more than 80% of children under 18 have had COVID-19 at...
Maintaining your COVID-19 library of materials
By
Jacquelyn Smith Clarke
Feb 07, 2022
As the pandemic progresses, we have become used to the constant upending of what we thought we once knew. From PPE guidance to testing and vaccines, the amount of information and how quickly it changes...