I can’t remember the date. I don’t remember what was happening at the time. What regulation changed, who tested positive, what family was upset, what team member was infuriated, or what system had...
Wine on a dog
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 23, 2023
You work in a difficult profession — long-term care. We all know that. I’m not even going to list the myriad challenges again, for fear of manifesting them into permanence. And yet, if your existence...
The ultimate antidote to long COVID of the soul
By
Gary Tetz
Jun 16, 2022
For a “recovering pessimist” like myself, few things are more annoying than being told that optimism is some sort of magic potion. But that’s exactly what recent research, reported by McKnight’s,...
Breaking news I want to hear
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Apr 19, 2022
I have to admit that when I saw the news headline last week, “BREAKING: CMS cuts SNF pay rates by net $320 million,” I felt a kick-’em-while-they’re-down discouragement.
Better together
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 30, 2023
An hour or so before the siren in our long-term care factory blasted the official start of the work day, and feeling a heightened level of job-related stress, I strolled into a colleague’s office uninvited...
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...
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...
How do we offer hope when we can’t see beyond the next shift?
By
Julie Thorson
Oct 11, 2023
Find hidden hope and hold on to it. Hope in healthcare hides in plain sight. Hope is here. It’s unfortunate that sometimes the moments of frustration overtake our soft, but powerful, hopeful...
The Power of One
By
Martie Moore
May 05, 2023
I watched him as he smiled and hummed, whirling around his work area. He was not aware of me, just what he was doing. His manager walked up to me and said, “He is our best worker, customers love him,...