I was at home, in my pajamas, when I got the text message from our DON on Sunday 9/27 at 11pm, “We need all hands on deck to prepare packets for the potential evacuation.” I slowly jumped out of my bed and headed straight for the espresso machine while my partner read Twitter and Nixel alerts aloud regarding the location of the fires, direction of the winds, and latest evacuations orders. 

Soon enough, it was nearly 4am and I found myself taking a quick nap in the middle of the therapy gym, listening to the NOC shift sounds of med carts, occasional call lights, and staff’s footsteps. I anxiously napped, waiting for 5am so that I can send a text to my therapists. I worried about what to say to them, worried about those that had to evacuate, worried that many may not show up, that this is just too much, and that we may not have enough support in the morning if we had to evacuate. As 7am rolled-around, the shift-change happened, all my therapists showed up (some much earlier than usual), more staff rolled-in, and our building came to life. As our sister facility, Summerfield, started evacuating, it was our turn to continue “cold-calling” all SNFs within the Bay Area to ask them to accept our patients in the case of evacuation. Ash was falling from the sky as we secured beds for all of our patients. We were ready. Read On...

October 9, 2017, and September 28, 2020 two dates that are significant to Summerfield Healthcare Center. These are the days that we, the Summerfield family, had to evacuate our patients out of our facility and send them temporarily to another place that is not their home. Their limited choices were either in a relative’s home, another skilled nursing facility and worst, evacuation centers. These were definitely one of the most stressful events that Summerfield had experienced. Staff worried about their homes, patients worried about their safety and patients’ families worried about their loved ones. The sky seemed to empathize with the situation with its gloomy hue and the air felt like a snake coiling around your body making it so hard to breath and the smoky air threatens to cut off your oxygen. Definitely not something anyone wants to experience during their lifetime....Every now and then, even before this experience, I would send a message to my therapists that I am proud to be a part of our team. As I sent another message to them, after we received the announcement that we can get our patients back in our facility, those same words felt insufficient to really express how I felt. I know deep in my heart, that if the same thing happens in the future, Summerfield Healthcare Center will rise to the occasion once again, because that’s who we are. Read On...

I called Summerfield DOR, JB Chua, to offer some help. I realized JB was remaining calm but was disappointed that with the evacuation he may not be able to attend our annual meeting that day. As soon as I heard many residents were being transferred from the Summerfield facility to Broadway Villa Post-Acute, JB and I coordinated with Ensign IT to grant me Summerfield Optima and PCC access. JB helped evacuate his facility and still arrived at my place around 1:30 pm to attend our virtual meeting together. We both were able to attend the meeting peacefully. Read On...

The responses from my team were overwhelming!  Read On...

During our Annual Therapy Leadership meeting, I had the honor and privilege to announce this year’s Natalie Blasczienski Award winner. This award, established in 2019, in essence, emulates the spirit and incredible human being of Natalie Blasczienski. Natalie was a PT and DOR at Legend Euless, Texas (now known as Westpark). She was often described as a superhero for her patients, a mentor/coach for her therapy/IDT team, and a proud momma of two young boys. Natalie’s spirit and enthusiasm was palpable, and she enriched the lives of countless seniors, through her selfless dedication to helping others. Read On...

VPAC has continued to accept COVID + patients, and as of August 16, there had been approximately 140 COVID admissions and 95 discharges to the community (25 skilled currently). Our entire VPAC team has continued to embrace the adversity of COVID as a challenge to overcome and catalyst for learning and growth. We’ve been honored to discharge so many residents home with family members and to prior living situations. The joy on residents’ and staff’s faces when escorted out the front doors on a red carpet to waiting family members is priceless. We’re looking forward to crossing the triple digit threshold for community discharges. Read On...

While there is still a lot to uncover about the pathology and presentation of COVID-19, we have learned a great deal about this virus and its potential impact in our post-acute care facilities. During our experience at one of the early COVID-19 outbreak facilities, it was discovered that an early presentation of many COVID-19 patients was the presence of a fever. Unfortunately, these fevers were managed with the typical order for acetaminophen and cooling measures, effectively masking the fever and avoiding any further escalation of care until the patient reached a point of medical instability. . Read on...

        And a sample diagnosis list Read On...

Reasons to Think Thin: Read On...

Like many seniors, our residents at The Orchard thrive on the opportunity to spend time with their loved ones. They look forward to having lunch with their spouse, to catching up with friends, to seeing their grandchildren grow. For many months, they were deprived of these meaningful visitations, or at least reduced to visits virtually or done outside their window. While many families tried to make the most of the situation by attempting to talk through glass, decorating their windows with signs and balloons, or even bringing singers to sing for their loved ones to bring cheer, it just was not the same.  Read On...

Bringing the fair to The Pines Post-Acute & Memory Care has given us the biggest smiles throughout the week. We are very grateful for everyone who helped us in preparing for this week. We all know this year hasn’t been easy due to COVID, but there’s always some way to make their days a little brighter. Read On... 

Numerous health care studies show a positive link between gardening and healing. Contact with gardens and nature can augment a resident’s medical treatment, including mental, physical and emotional needs. Therapeutic horticulture has been proven to deliver tangible wellness benefits, including improved self-esteem, improved memory, reduced depression, improved motor skills, and increased socialization. The project goals include, but are not limited to: 1) Increasing the quality of life by improving the residents’ emotional states and 2) improving the quality of care by focusing on the six therapeutic horticulture wellness goals set forth from the American Horticultural Therapy Society. Eldergrow strives to reach an 80% resident attainment rate on both goals.  Read On...

Meet Joe Pergamo, PT, (pictured top left), the Director of Rehabilitation at Rainier Rehabilitation in Puyallup, Washington. Joe joined our organization in March 2019 and has become a huge part of the Pennant Washington team, not only as a stand out leader in his own facility, but also as someone who pitches in for any of our Washington facilities if they need help. He has even driven five hours (one way) to Walla Walla on a repeat basis when they were short a physical therapist.

Jon (Anderson) was actually the one that brought it up in October of 2018 at the Leadership Summit meeting. Prior to that, I never really wanted the responsibility lol! I suppose that was when the seed was planted. Throughout that time period I considered taking my boards to becoming an Admin, I started asking questions to the other administrators. One of the most frequent questions I had was, “Is it fulfilling?” As a therapist and a resource, I know we make a difference and felt I had a purpose. I didn’t know if I would have the same sense of fulfilment as an ED. I was naïve to think that it wouldn’t be. Read On...

The key for us as therapists is to capture the data from vital signs as a guide to what interventions we will provide, or stop providing. In other words, we need to do more than simply take and record vitals. We need to use vital sign data as tools to make clinical decisions. For example...Read On...

Congratulations to the following facilities. (View some team photos here)

The conversations began to get competitive. Who could run the fastest 5K? Who could spin for the longest time with no break? Now we are here. A challenge. The fastest to run 100 meters. And so, in a building with an ongoing COVID outbreak, in a county struggling with a massive heat wave, in a state with rolling blackouts and fires and quarantines … we thought, why not? And so we raced. Check out the video here:

Cara truly is the epitome of ownership, and quickly jumped in at Golden Acres. In fact, there isn’t a function in the facility that she is not willing to take on herself or assist with as needed. Read On...

Agatha relocated from outside the state of Texas into a city with such charm, known as Livingston, TX, four years ago to help lead the therapy team at Timberwood. The shift from what she was familiar with could have been a tough adjustment for some, but Agatha stepped right in and embraced the city and facility with open arms. The transition came with some growing pains such as a very limited therapy team, ever-changing department heads, and very linear therapy services that were offered. In a short amount of time, Agatha has nearly doubled her therapy team through strong partnership efforts with our Keystone Therapy Recruiter, Richard Johnson. Agatha made a conscious decision to create an interview process that was inclusive with other team members. She prides herself on her onboarding process so each new team member can be fully immersed with the Ensign experience. Read On...