There’s a hidden world inside each nursing home. Each center is filled with people striving to live their best lives despite age and disability. Family visitors arrive when they can to offer care and companionship. Staff members devote themselves to this work largely because of their genuine fondness for the residents. If people would like … Read more
Recent calls1, 2, 3 for an increase in nursing staff levels may have providers wondering how to accomplish this. Under normal circumstances it can be challenging to find qualified individuals; the pandemic has added an off-putting level of danger to nursing home work. Two webinars hosted by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News last week offer clues … Read more
Prior to COVID-19, nursing homes were almost exclusively seen by the public as grim places to be avoided. People didn’t want to “end up” there, family members usually exhausted all possible avenues of care prior to admission, and sometimes relatives didn’t visit because they found it “too depressing.” Yet we in the field know the … Read more
COVID-19 has negatively affected the ability of many long-term care facilities to maintain a full census. Less frequent elective surgeries, fewer rehab cases and more empty beds make it harder to be selective about which patients are admitted, impacting not just the financial case mix, but also the clinical mix. A low census leads to … Read more
In my role as a long-term care psychologist in New York City, I try to ensure that each of the residents on my caseload makes the most of the time they have left in life and that they have a “good” death when the time comes. Instead of their last years surrounded by love and … Read more
Did you know that geropsychology has its own podcast? I didn’t, until I was asked to be interviewed for their COVID-19 mini-series. Click on the link below to hear my conversation with Drs. Lindsey Jacobs and Rachel Weiskittle, and check out their other fascinating interviews. In this episode of our COVID-19 mini-series, we interview Dr. Eleanor … Read more
One of the best ways to make meaning from tragedy is to use the experience to help others. Below, staff members of New York City nursing homes hit early in the pandemic graciously offer their advice to teams across the country that might be anticipating or currently grappling with the pandemic. Advance planning Stay calm. … Read more
Last week I listened to a webinar on protecting residents of nursing homes from pandemics, hosted by STAT News and sponsored by AARP. The three medical experts on the call offered a multitude of recommendations, some of which will no doubt be familiar to long-term care leaders, while others may provide new avenues for thought … Read more
Tena L. Scallan, of The Ultimate Caregving Expert, has gathered advice from experts (including me) on how to manage as a caregiver during the Covid-19 pandemic. Click on this link to read their advice and mine.
The severe impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes has led to calls for change in the country’s approach to eldercare. In “The American Nursing Home is a Design Failure,” for instance, author Justin Davidson describes the nursing home as a “soul-sapping institution” and argues that we need to rethink the current system entirely. In my … Read more