It’s a beautiful spring day in April in Northeast Ohio, and there are four inches of snow on the ground. It’s covering the daffodils and the apple blossoms. This is not unusual nor unexpected, but it’s still unusual and unexpected. An event like this one makes one think of the unusual and unexpected events that…
The news that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) of Texas has lifted ALL precautions against COVID-19, dropped the state’s mask mandate, and opened EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE has me concerned. Depression, anxiety, ulcers and night terrors have coalesced into “concern.” I like Texas. A lot. I have family in Texas and have visited Dallas, San Antonio and Austin…
I got the first step. The first step of the vaccine gave me a headache, a sore arm and the euphoric feeling of hope for release from the restrictions, illness and death that have literally plagued us for nearly a year. I’m pleased that I had side effects. This means that even at my (advanced)…
This is a throwback to college reading. It’s been a while for some of us, so bear with me for a minute. In 1864’s Notes from Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s narrator believes life in Utopia removes suffering and pain, but he thinks we need both to feel alive. He argues that removing suffering and pain removes…
The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the leaves are turning and the temperature is dropping. It’s another lovely fall day, but what does that mean for those of us in healthcare? October is when we expect the flu season to start, and we have to make sure our flu shots are up to…
A friend recently told me that her co-worker doesn’t believe in vaccines. They are microbiologists. I know of someone who is a flat-earth believer. He’s an amateur pilot. We see healthcare workers wearing masks below their noses, effectively making them ineffective and useless. There is no excuse for discounting the science. For the last six…
Disclaimer: I know I’m preaching to the choir. But it has to be said, so I’m saying it. I keep hearing defenses against wearing a mask in public. I wear one to protect YOU. I work in a COVID-19 facility and may be carrying a virus unawares. Some say “If I die, I die. I…
We work in long-term care and we have COVID-19 patients. This is not news. Everyone who’s reading this can say the same. How are we handling it? We are all different. It’s also not news that we don’t have enough personal protective equipment, we don’t have enough support, and that our directives change daily. Because…
To borrow from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, writer of Love in the Time of Cholera: “He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to…
After spending three days in training as an examiner for a prestigious healthcare quality award, I came away with a better understanding and appreciation of how quality is measured and how it affects our facilities and our goals. The IMPACT Act of 2014 required the implementation of specific set of measures using standardized assessment data.…
