Focused Care team members have a deep and abiding sense of what they have been able to do under unimaginably challenging conditions. Years from now, we will all ask ourselves “How did we do that?”

I will answer that now and I hope our entire team remembers this: You saved lives, you brought happiness and relief during a time of fear and grief, you poured forth compassion for your residents and each other and you somehow found the energy and drive to show up every day for your families, your community and those dependent on your attention to their health and well-being. You share a mission with Focused Care and you are determined to see it through.

You are Essential

I’ve always thought it wasn’t the right word to use when classifying government employees at a time of crisis – whether it’s weather related, politically related or otherwise. Think of a missive that goes out to federal workers during a blizzard that outlines who doesn’t have to report to work and who does based on their classification as “essential.”

“Essential.” The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has added individuals and businesses outside of the federal government to this definition – grocery store employees, landscaping/nursery services, hardware stores and other aspects of industry that in pre-COVID times, would not necessarily fall into that category. So not only has the world changed, what and who is “essential” has taken on an entirely new meaning.

We need to move on from using that word to define only certain personnel – because we are all essential. And that applies to skilled nursing care profoundly, unabashedly and without refutation.

YOU are essential.

If only the world could witness what each of you do every day of your lives:

Wake up and take care of your families.
Prepare yourself for work (which takes much more effort and diligence than it used to).
Be the energy, sometimes the arms and legs, the source of love and hope for seniors in need of rehab and readying to go home and to those who are dependent on your expertise and compassion on a daily basis.
Encourage co-team members whose own energy and strength of heart might falter at a given moment.
Stand shoulder to shoulder with your Focused Care community colleagues while you hear the latest statistics on cases and illness and bolster each other before tending to those for whom you are in charge of providing care.

You don’t need to make a case for your relevance or whether you care essential – Focused Care does not label any team member and relegate them to a category. Like a soldier, you must show up because people’s lives depend on it. Without you, we cannot move forward.

We all have COVID Fatigue – health care workers more than anyone else. Your stamina and endurance and commitment make this entire experience that much more extraordinary.

This isn’t a message from your coach. This isn’t a “rally the troops” speech. This is me – the founder of this company – going straight to you with my gratitude and appreciation. And selfishly, I want the world to know you don’t need a label or a notification or a government missive to tell you are essential.

Just ask me. Ask your residents. Ask their family members. Ask your team members. Ask your family.

You will get the same answer.

Thank you.