Guest Columns
When I was in graduate school as a single parent, barely making ends meet, I lamented to my mother in loud, ugly sobs that I thought I might be going crazy. I was serious. My mother calmly responded, “Well, that’s not a luxury you can’t afford.” While all of us feel like we are going crazy right…
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, it is important to not only deal with the present reality but also to think ahead. And on the latter score it is instructive to read the words of Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota: What should…
Like most of us in long-term care, Creekwood Place Nursing & Rehab was not expecting COVID-19. But we, like our counterparts throughout the country, are managing it. Creekwood Place Nursing & Rehab is located in Russellville, KY, a rural town of just over 7,000 people in southwest Kentucky. Creekwood Place is a 104-bed skilled nursing…
When examined strategically, data has a voice, it comes to life, it can in fact speak volumes to you. Data speaks about the care you deliver, it provides insight into your treatment patterns, and data is used deliberately by CMS to compare communities to others in their locality and across the nation.
According to Paraprofessional Health Institute data, there were 581,000 nursing assistants working in nursing homes in 2018. Their median wage was just $13.38 an hour. Ninety-two percent were women, and the workforce is predominantly comprised of people of color — 37% are Black. Perhaps these demographics make it easier for some policymakers to marginalize these essential workers. They…
I’m a resident here in this nursing home; And my life has been turned upside down I can’t read your face — like I used to do, Can’t tell a smile from a frown It’s that mask you wear; It hides your face! Plus, it makes you hard to hear I’m a little bit scared—…
Headlines during the time of COVID-19 foretell more semantic warmth for the elderly than I have ever read and heard before. That is the underlying tone of my following remarks. Changes in tone Negative tones have increased since the time of the ancients. Then and now are variations of the ancient traditional tripartite genre of communication: deliberative,…
An important update from the Department of Health and Human Services is worth knowing when it comes to allowable uses of CARES Act relief funds.
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…
With so many “cooks in the kitchen,” trying to direct pandemic response actions, by whose authority should we be taking action and direction?
The world is tired. It’s been a long, hard spring. It feels even longer and harder for long-term care providers and staff. This invisible enemy, COVID-19, has wreaked havoc on the eldercare industry, and we are just now maybe taking a deep breath. The death and illness toll to our residents and staff has been staggering, and while nursing…
Since 2011, Arizona’s Disaster Ready program has proactively addressed emergency preparedness in skilled nursing facilities (SNF) throughout the state. Managed by the team at the Arizona Health Care Association and funded through a grant overseen by the Arizona Department Health Services (ADHS), this program provides emergency management resources to all SNFs in the state. The…
The day I wrote this article, I did so on my mother’s birthday. The first birthday since she passed. I have had a lot of such firsts this year.
March 4, 2020, was the day our executive director sent out a notice to all residents, families and staff that the coronavirus was a reality and it would be impacting our scenic 220-acre continuing care community in Montgomery County, Maryland. This is the story of how our campus, which serves independent living residents, along with…
I met BF Skinner when I was in grad school studying Applied Behavior Analysis.
Strict isolation. Constant surveillance. No communal dining or group activities. No hugs, no touching, no visitors except in extreme cases. This may sound like life on death row, but in fact, in the coronavirus era in which we live, it fairly describes the plight of many residents in America’s long-term care facilities. This eerie similarity came innocently enough. Under…
Criminal healthcare investigations may start in a fearsome way. You have rights that you must know and exercise.
The new normal resulting from the coronavirus pandemic has presented a particular challenge to those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, as well as the dedicated healthcare professionals caring for them in skilled nursing facilities. As Alzheimer’s Association mission partnerships director Doug Pace said in a March 30 news release, “Individuals living with dementia thrive…
We are living in a once-in-a-lifetime period in history in which we are targeted by a virus that takes no prisoners. It wants to destroy all in its path especially the elderly and those who work in direct contact with this vulnerable population. While long-term care facilities are accustomed to following federal, state and local guidelines and…
When things are tough, we rise up. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When a pandemic sweeps the world … what can you do but make the most of it? We don’t know about you, but we at Three Pillars Senior Living Communities in Dousman, WI, never imagined spring 2020 would be like this.…
