Jokes can provide humorous illumination. They can also be used as cudgels.
One wisecrack editorial managers sometimes share about their junior colleagues goes something like this:
Q: What’s the difference between a journalist and a puppy?
A: Puppies grow up.
Anyone who has spent time around scribes will agree there’s a very large kernel of truth in that comparison. Truth be told, many journalists can more than hold their own when it comes to kvetching, or behaving like children in need of a nap.
But those same annoying characteristics help journalists to do their jobs. Moreover, their whinings are often, well, valid.
A similar joke about the skilled care sector might go as follows:
Q: What’s the difference between a nursing home operator’s predictions and the boy who cried wolf?
A: In the parable, something terrible actually happens.
Let’s face it, providers do tend to moan a lot. Disappointing payment increases are often mischaracterized as cuts. Regulations of any sort are fought hammer and tongs. At industry events, it’s easy to conclude the whole enterprise is veering toward an abyss.
Still, there are times when actual survival is at stake. As it happens, one of those times happens to be right now.
Yet outside the field, there doesn’t seem to be too much hand-wringing about the very real challenges you face. In fact, the general public sentiment toward nursing home operators might be summed up as follows: There they go again.
But it’s not just whining right now. There is a real staffing crisis going on. Costs are rising as never before. Occupancy remains low. More than a few operators are reducing the number of markets they serve. Others are leaving the field completely.
This time, the proverbial ravenous wolf truly is among us. And that reality is hardly something to joke about.
John O’Connor is editorial director for McKnight’s.
Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.
