November is National Diabetes Month

Each November, we take time to recognize National Diabetes Month. It’s the perfect time to help raise awareness of how your agency can help those with this disease and honor those who deal with it on a daily basis.

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects millions of Americans young and old alike, and a condition that home health and hospice caregivers deal with frequently. Diabetes affects the body’s ability to make or process insulin-requiring blood sugar levels to be checked continually.  Uncontrolled diabetes can cause eye, kidney and nerve damage, as well as double the risk for heart disease and stroke.

Controlling diabetes is an area where home health can contribute a great deal. Team nurses monitor patients’ vitals and blood sugar levels closely for improved disease management.  Better glucose regulation increases quality of life for older adults afflicted with diabetes.

Stay at the top of your referral network’s list this fall with an ample supply of our customized diabetes flyers and brochures for their patients. These marketing materials are designed to educate your patient community while promoting your agency and services.

There are several types of diabetes, which are listed below:

  • Prediabetes is the condition when the blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes. The CDC estimates that 84 million Americans have this condition.

  • Type 1 diabetes is the condition where the pancreas can no longer produce insulin. About 5% of diagnosed diabetics have Type 1.

  • Type 2 diabetes is the condition where the pancreases cannot produce enough insulin or the body can not properly process it. This is the most common type of diabetes affecting 95% of those diagnosed.

  • Gestational diabetes is an insulin deficiency condition that affects between 2% and 10% of pregnant women every year. Having this condition can increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes late in life.

Whether you know what type of diabetes you have or are trying to figure it out, our pain and symptom catalogs are a nice tool to keep track of it all. A preview of this product can be seen on our web store: https://www.tagwebstore.com/painsymptomlog.php

We offer a variety of materials specifically related to diabetes that you can always find on our web store: https://www.tagwebstore.com/diabetes.php

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Bring Comfort & Warmth in the Cold Months

Home health and hospice care providers often see a rise in senior health problems as the days become shorter and the temperature drops outside. Along with an increase in medical challenges, depression can accompany the change of seasons. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that begins and ends with seasonal changes. Most people who suffer with the “winter blues” begin feeling the effects in the Fall and deal with progressive depression until Spring. 

Isolation can easily become a catalyst for depression, which is hard for many older adults. Seniors with mobility restrictions and limited social interaction are more likely to experience the “winter blues”. Remind your referral network this winter that home care provides social interaction as well as quality health care.

The winter also brings a greater risk of heart complications. According to the American Heart Association, seniors who have cardiovascular conditions may experience side effects when exposed to cold temperatures. Other conditions amplified by the cold temperatures include joint pain, lung spasms, flu, and pneumonia. Promote your agency’s services this winter and the benefit of including home health, private duty, and hospice as part of a patient’s care team. 

You can promote the advantages of utilizing an agency and spread awareness about your agency through these types of efforts:

  • Choose our “Stress, Depression at the Holidays” issue for your next newsletter. We offer many Home Health and Hospice newsletters personalized to your agency. Be sure to include your referral sources in your mailing.

  • Send a nice card, which will always brighten someone’s day around the holidays.

We have a web store that showcases our selection of home health, private duty, and hospice marketing materials. We invite you to browse our products, and we look forward to supporting you with our expertise. 

Home Care & Hospice: The Caregiving Heroes

November is quickly approaching, which means National Home Care and Hospice Month is almost here.

It is a time to honor the caregiving heroes who make an incredible difference in the lives of the patients and families they serve. Home care and hospice agencies can spend the month spreading the word about the great work done by their agency’s professionals. Be sure to share the love with your staff too!

Want some tips to help you get started? We have a few tips and tricks.

  • Present a Physician of the Year award to the doctor who has been most supportive of hospice or home care in your medical community. Be sure to send a news release to your local media outlets announcing the award. 

  • Promote National Home Care and Hospice Month with fun and educational marketing materials. From retractable banners to magnets, we have a wide variety of promo items for you to put around your agency or hand out to others.

  • Organize a community event to give back to others. An event, such as a food drive for needy patients, is a nice way to support your community.

  • Create a social media post about home care or hospice and how it helps the lives of patients. Stories from your clients or the families of clients who can speak about the work you do can really elevate your story. 

TAG is grateful for all of the work the hospice and home health industries do for others! We are humbled to support the people who work in this field.

Home Health: A Boost to Post-Surgical Rehab for Joint Replacement

Knee and hip replacements are more popular than ever. They are among the most common elective surgeries in the United States. Advances in procedures and implants have now made outpatient joint replacement common.

More and more patients recovering from these surgeries are turning to home health for their post-surgery physical therapy. Home health offers flexible scheduling for busy patients who can’t afford time off of work and provides solutions for those patients not released to drive who have limited access to transportation.

Another benefit home health agencies provide is the presence of nutrition counselors in the patient’s home. These agencies often have registered dietitians on staff to offer nutritional counseling and create individual dietary plans for patients who have special dietary needs.

If you are a home health agency, you know all of these great benefits that your agency can provide and you need to show that to others.

Here are four ways you can promote the benefit of choosing home health for joint replacement post-surgical rehab:

  • Partner with local orthopedic clinics: You can provide bone density testing at local community events and hand out branded flyers to guests.

  • Host lunch & learns: You can hold these events at local senior centers to show how simple physical activity can increase bone tissue and stability in older adults. While you are there, you can educate guests about your services with branded marketing materials.

  • Provide marketing materials to your referral partners about conditions that can contribute to low bone density, such as diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis: Grab any of these flyers and more by clicking here: https://www.tagwebstore.com/disease-information-brochures.php

  • Zone Flyers: This self-assessment tool for patients guides them on what to do when a health problem arises. We have a flyer specifically for hip and knee replacement —click here to see it: https://www.tagwebstore.com/zone-flyer.php

Our TAG web store features a wide range of other popular home health and hospice informational products. You can also call us at 866.232.6477 or email us at support@tagwebstore.com. We are here to serve you with strategic marketing products to help your agency succeed, and we look forward to working with you.

Make it Easy for Physicians to Know When it’s Time for Hospice

Many doctors are uncomfortable with the idea of hospice or even discussing hospice care with their patients. All too often, patients begin hospice care so late in their disease that they only receive services for a few days when they could have been experiencing improvement in quality of life and symptom management for much longer.

As hospice companies continue their efforts to educate physicians about the good hospice can do, it can be beneficial to use tools to help doctors know when it’s appropriate to refer a patient with a particular diagnosis. These referral materials should include the hospice eligibility guidelines and the related tools needed to determine whether a patient meets the criteria.

TAG Partners has created marketing materials to help you in your educational efforts and help you accomplish your goals of building strong referral partnerships.

• Guidelines for Hospice Admission Flip Charts are among the most popular educational materials we produce. These coat-pocket-sized, coil-bound booklets cover the criteria for hospice admission for a variety of diagnoses.

• Hospice Pocket Reference Guides offer a condensed version of the eligibility criteria as well as information on pain management, common problems, commonly used medications, and tips for dealing with difficult patients.

• The Hospice Eligibility Quick-Reference Guide provides an at-a-glance single-sheet reference.

All of these materials include information about the New York Heart Association Functional Classification, the Palliative Performance Scale, and Functional Assessment Staging.

You can find all of our offerings on our web store by clicking here or you can speak with our team by calling 866.232.6477 to discuss your needs and desires. We look forward to serving you and growing your business.