Tag Archives for spirituality

Looking back at 2024, sharing some favorites

Published in RINewsToday on January 7, 2025

Like many national news organizations, RINewsToday, The Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call (now combined into one newspaper called the Blackstone Valley Call & Times), offers its readers an ‘age beat’ editorial commentary, covering a myriad of aging issues, Congress (including Social Security and Medicare) retirement, the long-term care continuum, consumer issues, spirituality, pop culture, health care and even economics. Throughout these years

I’ve covered these issues as they relate to older Rhode Islanders, also covering Smith Hill, when there are state policy debates on issues that will impact older Rhode Islanders.

As a Rhode Island ‘age beat’ journalist for over 45 years, I have penned over 1,000 stories covering issues of interest to our readers. These authored and coauthored pieces have appeared in national, state and trade publications.

For many of these editorial commentaries, I have consistently drawn on the invaluable research produced by the Washington, DC-based AARP. Their insightful reports, polls, and studies have provided a wealth of information that has deepened public understanding of the challenges and opportunities of aging. I’ve also drawn on the expertise of professionals in the Rhode Island aging network for their perspective and comments on these topics, giving the editorial a good, local slant, where possible.

In 2024, my commentaries have appeared weekly in daily news outlets, also in other media outlets including RINewsToday – that’s about 52 articles a year – over quite a few years now! I’ve written for digital news publications, Senior Digest, a monthly publication for those over age 50, the Narragansett Times, Kent County Daily, Cranston Herald, Warwick Beacon and the Johnston Sun who have picked up stories, and of course, my own blog.

As we celebrate the New Year and look forward to 2025, looking back, I have selected my top five favorite commentaries published in 2024. Specifically:

“Stoic Tips for the Class of 2024,” May 27, 2024.

Generally, thousands of commencement speeches occur annually at university and colleges in the U.S. The common themes of these speakers (traditionally 10 minutes in length, up to 2,500 words) that typically emerge in their speeches in 2024 were: resilience and overcoming challenges; embracing change and innovation; social responsibility and making a difference; the power of community and collaboration; and personal growth and lifelong learning; mental health and well-being and finally embracing diversity and inclusion.

Over the years, never being invited to give a commencement speech, I have traditionally penned my own. So, in 2024, advice was giving to graduating seniors, pulling from stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy that thrived in Ancient Greece and Rome. Advice came from: Epictetus, a former slave in Hierapolis (modern-day Turkey) around 50 CE; Seneca the Younger, who lived in the 1st century CE; Stoic Philosopher Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor who ruled from 161 to 180 CE; and Stoic Greek philosopher, Heraclitus.

Graduating seniors were advised to remember the teachings of Stoic philosophy that would offer them a timeless roadmap for living a life of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment.

“Congressman Magaziner Takes Baton on Bring Back House Aging Committee,” March 4, 2024

Over 30 years ago, the US House Democratic leadership’s belt-tightening efforts to save $1.5 million resulted in the termination of the House Permanent Select Committee on Aging. This commentary announced Cong. Seth Magaziner (RI-2) legislative attempt to bring back the House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA) when he picked up the baton from former Cong. David Cicilline who sought to bring it back during the 114th-117th Congresses.

The Commentary announced that Cong. Seth Magaziner’s introduction of H. Res. 1029, on Feb. 23, 2024, (cosponsored by Cong. Gabe Amo (RI-1) and 27 House Democratic lawmakers) to reestablish the HSCoA. It was referred to the House Committee on Rules for mark-up, (which never occurred) and the legislative resolution died at the conclusion of the 118th Congress.

According to the commentary, every day 12,000 Americans turn 60. By 2030, nearly 75 million people in the U.S. — or 20% of the country — will be age 65 or older. With the graying of our nation, the need for support and services provided under programs like Social Security, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid and the Older Americans Act increases.

Magaziner’s 213-word resolution would have authorized the HSCoA to study the use of all practicable means and methods of encouraging the development of public and private programs and policies which will assist seniors in taking a full part in national life and which will encourage the utilization of the knowledge, skills, special aptitudes, and abilities of seniors to contribute to a better quality of life for all Americans.

Finally, the House Resolution would also allow the HSCoA to develop policies that would encourage the coordination of both governmental and private programs designed to deal with problems of aging and to review any recommendations made by the President or by the White House Conference on aging in relation to programs or policies affecting seniors.

Hopefully, we will see Magaziner continue his attempt to bring back the HSCoA by reintroducing a new resolution during this new Congress. With his

“If You Want a Friend in Washington, Get a Furry Friend,” Aug. 5, 2024.

With an increasing number of adults reporting a decrease in the number of close friends, the old adage, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog,” might also be applicable outside the Beltway, even in the Ocean State. This companionship can also boost your physical and mental health. Your furry friends’ capacity for unconditional love enables them to share our lives’ highs and lows.

This commentary stressed the powerful bond of owning a pet and how the relationship offers mental and emotion support to their owners.

According to the findings of an American Psychiatric Association (APA) Healthy Minds Monthly poll released jointly with the American Veterinary Medical Association, among the many mental health benefits of pets, nearly two-thirds of pet owners say that their animals offer companionship (65%), are a true friend (65%) and provide unconditional love and support (64%), the survey finds. Eighty-four percent of pet owners say that their pets have a mostly positive impact on their mental health, similar to the findings of last year’s polling on the same topic. The poll was of 2,200 adults, done by Morning Consult.

Furthermore, the survey’s findings indicated 62 percent of the survey’s respondents say that pets provide a calming presence and also help reduce their stress and anxiety. Thirty-five percent note that their pet encourages them to be more physically active, too. The findings note that owning a pet adds structure to a respondent’s schedule and can even increase social connections with others (19%).

Yes, in Washington or outside the Beltway, if you want a friend, get a dog (or even a cat, bird or hamster). Pets can become a protective buffer against physical and mental disorders and life stressors.

“Someone’s Trash is a Military Family’s Treasure: Ours,” June 3, 2024.

This commentary, in the Blackstone Valley Call & Times, highlighted my efforts to retrieve a military footlocker that belonged to my father, after being notified that a Detroit couple, Michael Shannon and his girlfriend Cetaura Bell, found it cast away on a sidewalk for anyone to claim. The trunk had sat in a vacant garage for over 60 years (with the owner having no relations with the owner Lt. Frank M. Weiss). The couple went out of their way to try and finally successfully track me down thru an internet search.

My story was picked up by RINewsToday, and then in several local papers. The Detroit Free Press, a Gannet publication also did a story, in both their digital and print editions, and then other Gannet papers, including the Providence Journal, the Cincinnati paper and the Indy Star. Perhaps the biggest connection, though, was made with Stars & Stripes – the US military’s independent news source with a circulation of over 1 million readers.

“Shortage of direct care professionals a local and national concern,” April 22, 2024

Over 23 years ago, commentaries in the Pawtucket Times that I wrote reported on the crisis of a direct care staffing shortage and inadequate reimbursement being paid to nursing facilities to care for Rhode Island’s frail seniors. As we enter 2025, NOTHING has changed and these staffing and reimbursement issues still continue to exit.

The commentary took a look at a U.S. Special Committee on Aging hearing, chaired by Chairman Bob Casey, (D-PA), showcasing S. 4120, legislation that he introduced with U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). The Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act, introduced during the 118thCongress,would ensure that direct care professionals have a sustainable, lifelong career by providing substantial new funding to support these workers in every part of the long-term care industry, from nursing homes to home care, to assisted living facilities.

The Senate Aging Committee hearing revealed a number of statistical findings showing the need for Congress to address the nation’s severe ongoing direct care professional workforce shortage. It was noted that a recently released survey revealed 92% of nursing facility respondents and nearly 70% of assisted living facilities reported significant or severe workforce shortages.

The April 16th hearing entitled, “The Long-Term Care Workforce: Addressing Shortages and Improving the Profession,” examined the challenges currently facing long-term care workers who are often underpaid and overworked, leading to widespread worker shortages that threaten the availability of care for those who need it.

“It’s a crisis that stems largely from a lack of support for and investment in our care giving workforce,” warned Casey in his opening statement. “Between 50 to over 90 percent of long-term care settings and providers report significant staffing shortages, affecting their ability to provide services, accept new clients, or even to remain open,” he said, with witnesses providing personal testimony about this policy issue.

John E. Gage, MBA, NHA, President & CEO, of the Rhode Island Health Care Association (RIHCA), Maureen Maigret, policy advisory of the Senior Agenda of RI (SACRI), offered their views of the nation’s severe ongoing direct care professional workforce shortage citing Rhode Island specific examples.

In conclusion…

I extend my heartfelt thanks to the thousands of individuals I have interviewed over these 45 years. Their comments reflecting insights and observations about aging, health care, and medical issues, have profoundly enriched these commentaries.

To review all my 53 commentaries that appeared in 2024 (including the above cited), go to http://www.herbweiss.blog.

The wall of separation, church and state

Published in RINewsToday on December 23, 2024

Lawmakers with strong religious beliefs can be found serving in state houses, congress, and state departments of education, etc., throughout the nation. Occasionally, we’ve seen the wall of separation of church and state crumble, or be taken up in the courts.

According to PEN America, between July and Dec. 2022, “Texas school districts had the most instances of book bans with 438 bans, followed by 357 bans in Florida, 315 bans in Missouri, and over 100 bans in both Utah and South Carolina. The topics of banned books included race and racism, gender identity and explicit sexuality and health. 

In Oklahoma, the state is purchasing 500 bibles to be placed in public schools. Louisiana becomes the first state to require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while some have long done so. With the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, and returning the abortion issue to the states, there have been state by state challenges, as well.

Those who oppose a strict separation of church and state say that these words do not appear in the  U.S. Constitution. However, those calling for the wall to be made stronger say the concept is enshrined in the very first freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” is the opening line of the First Amendment.

Plurality of Religions and Spiritual Seekers, too

The largest percentage of Americans identify with a Christian religion (Protestantism, Catholicism, and Non-specific Christians

). Others identify themselves as non-Christian, including Mormonism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam,  Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Unitarian Universalism, Baha’i, Wicca and other Neopagan religions, and Native American religions.  

And let us not forget those who do not believe choose to not affiliate with an organized religion, specifically, those who consider themselves an atheist or an agnostic. The main difference between the two being that an atheist does not believe in a God, or a higher power, while an agnostic does not believe it is possible to know if God exists.

But there are a growing number of Americans who view themselves as spiritual but not religious (SBNRs).  These individuals do not believe in a formal need for a “middle-man” and attending a service in a defined structure in order to celebrate Easter, Christmas, Yom Kippur, or that attending weekly services is a way to connect with God. 

Pew Research study

Last December, the Washington, DC-based Pew Research Center released a study whose finding indicated that in recent decades less Americans are identifying with organized religion.  Seven in 10 adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way, including 22% who are spiritual but not religious (SBNRs) and don’t attend religious institutions, say the findings. 

SBNRs is a relatively new term, actually derived by dating apps as a way to say a person was spiritual but not identifying with one religion or another. Respondents were more likely to see spiritual forces at work in nature than religious-and-spiritual Americans. For example, the findings indicated that 71% of SBNRs believe that spirits or spiritual energies can be found in parts of nature like mountains, rivers or trees while 59% believe that being connected with nature is “essential” to what being spiritual means to them.

Additionally, many SBNRs (45%) do claim a religious affiliation, although they don’t consider themselves religious or say religion is very important in their lives. They expressed more negative views of organized religion than religious-and-spiritual Americans, with 42% saying that religion causes division and intolerance.

The Pew survey also found that belief in spirits or a spiritual realm beyond this world is widespread, even among those who don’t consider themselves religious.

According to the Pew survey’s findings, 83% of all U.S. adults believe people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body while 81% believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if “we cannot see it.”  Seventy four percent say that there are some things that science cannot possibly explain while 45% noted they have had a sudden feeling of connection with something from beyond this world. And 30% say they have personally encountered a spirit or unseen spiritual force.

Overall, 70% of U.S. adults can be considered “spiritual” in some way because they think of themselves as spiritual people or say spirituality is very important in their lives, noted the researchers.

Most of these people also consider themselves religious or say that religion is very important in their lives. There is enough overlap between what people mean by “spirituality” and what they have in mind by “religion” that nearly half of U.S. adults indicate they are both religious and spiritual.

However,  22% of U.S. adults fall into the category of spiritual but not religious. The new survey offers a rich portrait of this group, showing what beliefs, they hold, how they practice their spirituality and how they tend to differ from those who embrace the “religious” label.The researchers asked all surveyed respondents to describe, in their own words, what the term “spiritual” means to them.  Their responses ranged from “Being one with your soul, emotions, feelings, actions,” or “Connecting with the creator who is the source of my existence, providing strength, guidance, hope and peace. The word of God provides direction for my life.”

Others responded by saying they believed in something larger and more creative than science. While not adhering to a particular religion, some acknowledged “a higher power that exists above all that is.”

These open-ended responses from the surveyed respondents illustrate the difficulty of separating “spirituality” from “religion,” say the researchers suggesting that “for many Americans, there is no clear dividing line.”

The survey findings also indicated that 27% define “spiritual” by mentioning beliefs or faiths associated with organized religion. Many (24%) say the word “spiritual” is about connections, frequently with God, but also, in some cases, with one’s inner self. One-in-ten say “spiritual” relates to understanding themselves or guiding their own behavior.

Taking a Close Look, One’s Spiritual Beliefs

Half of the respondents believe that spirits can inhabit burial places, such as graveyards, cemeteries or other memorial sites, say the Pell researchers, adding that about 48% says that parts of the natural landscape – such as mountains, rivers or trees – can have spirits or spiritual energies.

Death is not the end of a person’s existence, say more than half of respondents (57%). They believe that in the afterlife, people definitely. or probably. can reunite with loved ones who also have died. About four-in-ten or more say that dead people definitely or probably can assist, protect or guide the living (46%), be aware of what’s going on among the living (44%) or communicate with them (42%).

Spending time in nature can enhance one’s spiritual connect, say 77 percent of the respondents who note they spend time outside at least a few times a month. Twenty-six percent see spending time with nature as a way to “feel connected with something bigger than themselves or with their true self.”  Twenty-two percent say that meditation is one way to connect with their “true self or with something bigger than themselves.”

Finally, more than one-third of respondents revealed that they own a symbolic cross for spiritual purposes. Also, 15% admitted that they maintained a shrine, altar or icon in their home; 12% possess crystals for spiritual purposes; and 9% have a tattoo or piercing for a spiritual purpose.

A Final Note…

Roger Williams, a Puritan minister and founder of Rhode Island, called on a “high wall” between the church and state to keep the “wilderness” of governments out of the activities of religion. He also believed in all religions, rather than no religion, a common misperception of Williams’ intent.

According to a posting on the Jefferson Monticello website, “Thomas Jefferson sought to create a ‘wall of separation between Church & State,’ rejecting the historical entanglement of government and religion he believed denied people a fundamental right of conscience and the right to think and decide for oneself so essential to a republic.”

The U.S. motto, e pluribus unum, that we, as a nation, are gathered together as one out of many. With a new Congress and administration taking the reins of government next month, the rights and freedoms guaranteed to us in our Constitution are important to know and protect. We Americans believe that a variety of formal religions and other belief structures all lead to God.

The Pew Research Center survey of American spirituality, conducted July 31-Aug. 6, 2023, had a nationally representative sample of 11,201 members of our American Trends Panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

To read the Pew Research Center’s (PRS) Report on Americans and Spirituality, click here: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/spirituality-among-americans/

Also, check out PRC’s reports on Separation of Church and State.  Go to

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/10/27/45-of-americans-say-u-s-should-be-a-christian-nation/  and

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/10/28/in-u-s-far-more-support-than-oppose-separation-of-church-and-state/.

Age beat writer gives us his most important columns in 2023

Published in Blackstone Valley Call and Times, on January 1, 2024

Over the years, like many of the nation’s news organizations, The Pawtucket Times, created an ‘Age Beat’ column in 2002 that allowed this writer for several years to cover a myriad of aging issues, including Social Security and Medicare, ethics, long-term care, consumer issues, spirituality, pop culture, health care and economics. Ultimately, I would return in July, 2012 to resume writing, also picking up other weekly commentaries.

As an ‘age beat’ journalist for over 44 years, I have penned more than 930 stories covering aging, health care and medical issues. These authored and coauthored pieces have appeared in national, state and trade publications.

In 2023, my articles appeared weekly in 52 issues of the Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call (now combined in one newspaper called the Blackstone Valley Call & Times), and RINewsToday.com, a statewide digital news publication.

As we celebrate the New Year and look forward to 2024, looking back, here are my top five favorite articles published in 2023:

“In the coming years, generations of older Veterans will be leaving us,” – RINewsToday, Nov. 13, 2023  

This commentary published before Veterans Day, had the Department of Veteran Affairs estimate that there will be a couple of hundred World War II veterans, over 1,600 Korean and 14,000 Vietnam veterans still alive in Rhode Island. In the coming years, frailty and health issues will keep these elderly veterans’ from attending Veteran Day celebrations and even at their reunions.     
 
As a generation of Civil War and World War I veterans vanish in 1956 and 2011, this writer urged readers to cherish the surviving older veterans. In the next thirty years, it was stressed that new generations of veterans who fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam will pass away and these veterans were urged to share their personal stories and oral histories for the sake of America’s future generations. “They have so much to say, and America’s younger generations have much to learn from them,” noted the commentary. 

This commentary was dedicated to the writer’s father, Second Lt. Frank M. Weiss, who died in December 2003, in Dallas, Texas at 89 years old.

“Passages – Life and Times of Morris Nathanson,” RINewsToday, Oct. 7, 2023

Over two decades, this writer would visit Morris Nathanson on Saturday afternoons sitting in his living room drinking cups of freshly brewed coffee.  We would talk about Pawtucket, world events, and he would reminiscence about his amazing life’s journey from his childhood in Pawtucket, to the international world he lived in later in his life.

My friend, 95-year-old Morris Nathanson, a painter, illustrator and restaurant/hospitality designer died last September. My commentary was written to recognize and honor Morris’s incredible life, detailing his World War II experiences, fighting for civil rights, and his impact on the art and design scene.

Growing up poor during the depression in Pawtucket’s Pleasant View neighborhood, Morris, a spitting image of Mark Twine, or maybe Albert Einstein to me, would ultimately have a major impact on Rhode Island’s art and restaurant design scene. 

Morris brought the strategy of adaptive re-use of underutilized and vacant mills to city and state officials, a concept that he picked up from his years of working in New York City, watching the development and transformation of the industrial mills in SOHO.

Witnessing firsthand man’s biases and prejudices motivated him throughout seventy-five years of his long life to fight for the equal rights of all.  Morris participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King’s campaigns in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama, and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  

At age 24, Morris, head of the design team at Paramount, developed and designed the first franchise in American history, Dunkin Donuts. While working with Friedman he also designed restaurants in the pavilions of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York.

When Morris left Paramount Restaurant Supply Co, his most notable design projects locally include Hemenway’s, Ruth Chris Steak House, 22 Bowen, restaurants and bars for the Inn at Castle Hill, Capital Grill, Pizzeria Uno, Joe’s American Bar & Grill, Mills Tavern, Waterman Grill, Red Stripe and for those who still remember, the beloved Ming Garden and McGarry’s Restaurant in downtown Providence.  He also had clients all over the world.

It would take pages to detail all of Morris’s professional accomplishments while serving on state, city and nonprofit organizations throughout his long-life.  Hopefully I whetted your appetite to learn more about his life by reading this commentary. 

“Will Magaziner fulfill call to reestablish House Aging Committee,” RINewsToday, Oct. 9, 2023.

As reported, with Congressman David Cicilline retiring from Congress, no House lawmaker has yet stepped up to reintroduce, H.R. 583, the Rhode Island lawmaker’s resolution to reestablish the House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA). Without receiving a vote in the House Rules Committee at the end of the 117th Congress, the resolution was considered “dead.” On his way out Cicilline was not successful in passing the legislative baton and finding a new original sponsor.  The Rhode Island Congressman had introduced this resolution in four Congressional sessions.

The HSCoA was a permanent select committee of the U.S. House of representatives between 1974 to 1992.  The committee was initially created with the intent of not crafting legislative proposals, but of conducting investigations and holding hearings to put the Congressional spotlight on aging issues. Its purpose was to push for legislation and other actions, working with standing committees, through regular committee channels.

This writer asks who will ultimately pick up the legislative baton from Cicilline to become Rhode Island’s fiery aging advocate?  Will it be Congressman Seth Magaziner, or the newly elected Congressman Gabe Amo, from Rhode Island’s Congressional District 1 to step to the plate?

The article asks why shouldn’t a Rhode Island Congressman follow in the footsteps of former Rhode Island Congressman John E. Fogarty (dec.) and be the original sponsor of legislation that will have a major impact on national aging policy. The lawmaker would become a hero to America’s seniors.  

“Unique partnership creates Senior Fellows pilot program,” RINewsToday, Dec. 11, 2023

This commentary announced that the success of a pilot Senior Fellows Program, created by Leadership Rhode Island (LRI) and Age-Friendly Rhode Island (AFRI), the organizations are seeking funding to offer another session in the summer of 2024.

The unique initiative prepared 25 Senior Fellows to advocate for improvements that address age-related challenges in Rhode Island. The initial eight-week program was tuition-free. The first crop of Senior Fellows, residents of 13 different cities and towns in Rhode Island, ranged in age from 62 to 83. Nearly half were retired.

The idea to develop a senior advocates program came from Marianne Raimondo, a graduate of LRI’s Core Program, who made the connection between Leadership Rhode Island and James Burke Connell. Connell is the executive director of Age-Friendly Rhode Island, an initiative at Rhode Island College that represents a coalition of public and private agencies, organizations and individuals committed to healthy aging.

Connell proposed the pilot program because, he says, empowering seniors to become advocates, activists and champions of age-friendly thinking and practices “will result in a Rhode Island where older adults thrive and live their best lives.”  He was inspired by similar programs in Maine and New Hampshire.

Age-Friendly RI raised the funds for the pilot program, and relied on LRI’s “talented team” to handle recruiting, participant selection, curriculum planning, and guiding participants in the development of individual community commitments, Connell says.

Most session days were divided into two parts, with half focused on knowledge-building around relevant issues, such as housing, food insecurity, transportation needs, and health care. The other half focused on skill-building, such as writing persuasively, public speaking and network building, to enable the Fellows to develop and eventually execute their own Civic Commitments.

The Fellows took turns describing their Civic Commitments during their final session, held at the RI State House.  The presentations, which included several “poignant and pin-drop moments,” were well received.

“Increased funding must be tied to nursing home mandated minimum staffing“, RINewsToday, September 25, 2023

The commentary announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had issued a proposed rule to establish comprehensive staffing requirements for nursing homes—including, for the first time, national minimum nurse staffing standards. CMS officials said that the requirement would improve both safety and promote high-quality care in the nation’s 18,700 skilled nursing facilities delivering care to 1.2 million residents each day.

National and Rhode Island nursing home trade groups pushed back on the unfunded mandate requiring more staffing especially during a severe labor shortage forcing hundreds of facilities across the nation to close because of lack of workers.

​John E. Gage, President, and CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, reported that six Rhode Island-based facilities have closed since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Three others are currently in receivership. He warns that arbitrary federal staffing mandates will result in more closures, and residents will be displaced from their homes just as they were most recently when Charlesgate Nursing Center in Providence.

James Nyberg, president, and CEO of LeadingAge Rhode Island, with offices in East Providence, sees a staffing ratio mandate as a blunt enforcement tool that does not consider the numerous challenges facing providers, including Medicaid underfunding, lack of workforce, and the diversity of resident needs. Moreover, he charged that fining for being unable to meet a staffing ratio is counterproductive by siphoning off scarce resources that facilities need as they seek to address their workforce and resident care needs.

To review ALL of Herb’s articles published by RINewstoday, go to https://rinewstoday.com/herb-weiss/