Long-Term Living blogger Kathy Mears takes a headline out of the news to give her perspective on a California assisted living facility's abandonment of a number of residents when it shut its doors, leaving them without caregivers, care and basic necessities. Read More »
OSHA is taking a harder look at workplace violence in long-term care facilities. These tips can help you prepare your staff and shore up your documentation procedures. Read More »
As the end of daylight saving time approaches in most parts of the United States, here are some tips to keep you—and residents—healthy and alert in the coming weeks. Read More »
A Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in an Alabama nursing home leaves one person dead and a dozen others ill, while earlier this fall the same bacterium killed five and sickened nearly 40 in an Ohio retirement community. Read More »
Facility laundry operations do an admirable job on maintaining linens and clothing. However, the laundry room can be a minefield of potential problems when caring for residents’ personal wardrobes, as Kathleen Mears has experienced. Read More »
Live from LeadingAge: Technology that would allow seniors to participate in senior living community activities remotely has won the inaugural HackFest. Read More »
A recent experience reminded me of the haunted houses I attended in my high school days. The occasion was not as fun but was just as frightening, especially considering that 36 million people around the world have similar sensations daily. The memories will stay with me for a long time. Read More »
A senior housing complex with a reputation for frequent calls to local paramedics saw a one-third decrease in the calls after implementing a new program. Read More »
It's estimated that more than 2 million seniors in New York will need some kind of long-term care by 2015. Read about the assisted living initiatives under way in that state—and how communities elsewhere might benefit. Read More »
If your facility employs 50 or fewer full-time workers, you may be interested in the results of a new study of the new Small Business Health Options Program through which companies like yours can purchase health insurance. Read More »
Stronger, antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella are emerging, creating extra challenges for caregivers—and greater responsibilities for food service and housekeeping personnel. Read More »
Summer’s gone. But it left your community—from resident rooms to kitchen—full of dust, pollen and other contaminants that can be hard on the health of frail or medically compromised residents, not to mention staff. Read More »
Live from AHCA/NCAL: Are your customer satisfaction surveys a dreaded burden or an elusive holy grail? These tips can help communities increase customer satisfaction, but the best results come from customizing each one to individual residents. Read More »
Live from AHCA/NCAL: To be successful in your mission of person-centered care, you must include residents and their families in your care planning. It sounds obvious, but many facilities that think they are doing this are not. Here are some points to consider. Read More »
Technology-related issues and trends in long-term care were on the agenda when Larry Wolf, health information technology strategist with post-acute service provider Kindred Healthcare, recently spoke with Long-Term Living. Read More »
Core Medicare and Medicaid operations will not be affected by a federal government shutdown that began today, but a broad range of other federal operations will be affected. The Affordable Care Act itself has largely been funded already and will not be directly affected. ACA-created health insurance exchanges also are live as scheduled. Read More »
After a weekend of squabbling over the federal budget, the Senate has rejected a proposal to delay the Affordable Care Act. With the budget crisis still unsolved in the 11th hour, what would a government shutdown mean for long-term care? Read More »
The housekeeping department accounts for a large part of a facility's budget—and an even larger part of its infection control program. But even the most sophisticated cleanliness initiatives will go down the drain if staffers aren't properly trained in the specific protocols for each cleaning product. Read More »
When a facility shuts its doors the business suffers, the community suffers and, ultimately, the residents caught in the middle are the ones who pay the price with the stress of relocation and the uncertainty of their futures. Read More »
Newly published research in the New England Journal of Medicine challenges widely held beliefs about the transmission of a common infection and how to stop it. Read More »
Those working in long-term care have three important reasons to get vaccinated against the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And employers have compelling evidence to require or at least encourage vaccination. Read More »
Care, staffing, and workflow processes and tools all are changing as technology and the healthcare system adapt to one another, according to one expert. Read More »