As pandemic testing becomes more sophisticated, a creepy song from the ’80s takes on new and ominous relevance. “Every breath you take I’ll be watching you,” warned The Police, and now that an…
In a death-phobic nation, long-term care embraces the ultimate privilege
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 21, 2022
Some in long-term care wake up thinking of pay cuts, business survival or reform. Me? I awoke this morning thinking about cremation.
Whatever you’re doing to fight long-term care stress, stop it
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 07, 2022
With another possible COVID-19 wave on the way, and the Biden brain trust still eager to “wallop” the profession, long-term care people have plenty of reasons to continue aggressively seeking stress…
Hand-wringing about handshakes
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 24, 2022
Yesterday, I did something I haven’t done in more than two years. Something I said I’d never do again. Something I’m not proud of. Something I should probably bring up with my therapist, or in confession. …
Waiting for the wallop
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 10, 2022
Good news, bad news — it’s a cycle on perpetual repeat in the long-term care profession, and on this planet.
Don’t look left: Finding long-term care lessons in traffic
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 24, 2022
If you’ve read many of my McKnight’s columns over the years, you know I love to draw long-term care lessons from traffic experiences.
No more muddling along
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 10, 2022
It’s become a ritual, and I recently realized it probably needs to stop. Most every morning as I glide past our delightful receptionist on the way to my office, our daily dance of greeting goes something…
Begin what? I begin.
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 27, 2022
As I sit here at 2 a.m. eating a big bowl of unnecessary cereal, driven from bed by work-related stress and the need to speedily write a column for a distinguished publication named McKnight’s, it doesn’t…
The pain of being human
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 13, 2022
With COVID-19 variants still punching long-term care staff in the face every day, it’s understandable for us to sometimes lose the ability to get our arms around the sheer scope of collective sadness…
Curse of the blue-blockers
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 16, 2021
I’ve suffered with poor vision for most of my adult life. Sometimes at intersections, I have to actually get out of the car and feel the letter ridges on a road sign to confirm my location. So when I…
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…
Things I Think | All about the music
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 01, 2021
During trying times in long-term care, how do leaders and staff stay focused on what’s most important—caring for seniors?
Dark night of the sole
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 11, 2021
Maybe I just need to stop reading McKnight’s. That’s the bottom line. Because every time I flip through its pages, whether virtually or in print, I seem to discover researchers have found another horrible…
Things I Think | Keep moving forward — It’s the only choice
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 01, 2021
In hiking or life, through any difficulty, there’s only one strategy I’ve ever found that always applies: Keep moving.
Eat your vegetables
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 28, 2021
I’m all about simplistic solutions to impossible difficulties. Faced with huge challenges like staffing, staffing and staffing, long-term care operators, administrators and clinical leaders are feeling…
My incredible shrinking lifespan
By
Gary Tetz
Oct 14, 2021
With so much still to say to the long-term care profession, I’m realizing I better write fast, because I may not have many years left. Less all the time, according to a study from Oxford University….
Advice from a recovering pessimist
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 30, 2021
Who am I to be giving advice? I have no proficiency in PDPM, MDS, CQI, RUGs, ISNPs or any other intimidating or indecipherable acronym. No one is begging me for my thoughts on staffing or infection control….
When the fog lifts
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 16, 2021
I fancy myself a brave and intrepid hiker, and a couple weeks ago chose a particularly daunting trail that was rumored to lead to some of the best possible views of Mount Hood, the 11,249-foot peak that…
Grateful? Make a list
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 02, 2021
While walking reluctantly into our place of long-term care employment yesterday, a colleague and I started talking sarcastically about how delighted we were to be alive and at work. We didn’t mean a…
Stronger at the broken places
By
Gary Tetz
Aug 19, 2021
Well, here we go again. Within long-term care especially, the shock and discouragement of the delta variant and the havoc it’s wreaking on those we care for and work beside is pervasive and demoralizing. …
