James M. Berklan
James M. Berklan

I had known Joe for a couple of years before visiting him at home. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that caused it, but they planted the first seeds for my infatuation with an often unappreciated major city.

Joe was my college roommate, but in the spring of junior year, he was suddenly torn away. A couple of top lieutenants in his dad’s motor repair and sales business said they were leaving to form their own company but would hang around for a few weeks if he would like to pay them up front.

Joe’s dad, Tom, was an amiable enough guy, but I’m sure the words were barely out of those turncoats’ mouths before he had shown them the door. Joe, who had already been helping the family business for years, dropped out of school immediately. He not only helped save the enterprise but now also presides over it as president.

A carload of us made the four-hour drive south not long after the initial break, and that was my first taste of the charming hills, restaurants and people of Cincinnati.

I would return several times in the ensuing years to stand up in Joe’s wedding and for a few short vacations. Later, my enchantment with Cincy leaped further as I attended basketball and football games at the University of Cincinnati, where Son No. 1 had become its biggest sports fan. (This is certifiable as he has the documentation for it and we also have the TV clips to prove it. I’m also happy to report that his classroom attendance led to an excellent job with a high-quality company in his chosen profession.) 

I share these love lines about Cincinnati because as a long-term care professional, you also should wear a sweet, even envious smile when its name comes up. 

On June 7, a group of greater Cincinnati hospitals took the remarkable step of publishing a letter of gratitude to the area’s nursing homes. It was featured on cincinnati.com, which is affiliated with the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper and therefore is the area’s pre-eminent local news source. The article’s title? “Nursing homes unsung pandemic heroes.”

It’s enough to get a big head over if you’re a long-term care operator in the region. Apparently you’ve earned it.

The elegant thank-you brief builds its backslapping case evenhandedly. It made sure to acknowledge the many “amazing” healthcare organizations in the area, including assisted living operators.

But, the authors pointed out, “While this collaboration has been extraordinary, it was and is supported and strengthened by the unsung heroes of this pandemic — our area nursing homes.” Those 171 facilities are responsible for nearly 12,000 residents.

“Those who care for these residents provided love and companionship when families could not,” the authors emphasized. They praised the “intentional” efforts to entertain, visit and, literally, touch needy individuals.

Individuals who, let’s not kid ourselves, might typically be headed to or from one of the authoring hospitals. Relationship building is an ongoing process, we should all remember.

Still, the degree to which these caregiving business partners lavished praise on their long-term care colleagues was nothing less than exhilarating. Nursing homes were lauded for “flattening the curve” while helping offload hospitals’ challenges. More than 90% of the SNFs were credited with developing special isolation units. 

A special shoutout was given to the approximately 15 nursing homes that adapted to accept COVID-19 positive patients who were not their original residents. That extra 250-bed capacity was invaluable to hospitals already up to their necks with more complex cases, they wrote.

In short, this was a big, wet kiss from the administrators and staff from 13 hospitals and health systems, giving their long-term care counterparts the respect and adulation usually nowhere to be found in public discourse.

So hats off to the SNFs and ALFs of the greater Cincinnati region. And an equal nod of appreciation to the acute-care entities initiating this welcome episode.

For long-term care providers outside the Cincinnati area, it’s a great time to share the pride with your southern Ohio colleagues, and maybe imagine being involved in such a powerful show of mutual admiration yourself someday.

A fair question might be to ask why it hasn’t happened already.

Follow Executive Editor James M. Berklan @JimBerklan.