SilverSage News

When I speak to nursing home teams about having their own full-time physician on staff, visions of Dr. McDreamy inevitably dance in their heads. Indeed, when I mention the fictional TV character played by Patrick Dempsey on Grey’s Anatomy, staff members often smile and clap. After all, what would it be like to have a handsome doctor at your beck and call at all times? The prospect inevitably sounds too good to be nonfiction to members of an industry that has, historically, tried to make do without—or in spite of—a full-time doctor.

A Sage is a wise leader, experienced, insightful, intelligent, thoughtful, with understanding. Sage is also an herb, known over the centuries for its medicinal and healing properties.

In the past, nursing homes took care of patients in a custodial way, and they really didn’t need a doctor to accomplish this level of care. In those earlier years, the type of patient that went to live in a nursing home was similar to the patient that today goes to an independent or assisted living facility. These were people that needed a certain level of help to handle their day-to-day lives, but not necessarily very much.