Gear up for World Alzheimer’s Month!

Make plans now to show your support for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Wear your purple during the Month of September and join in. 

Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease that alters behavior, deteriorates memory, and erodes cognitive function.  This incurable form of dementia is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, but the research is ongoing. Treatments are currently available that have shown to be effective in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s if administered in the early stages of the disease.

Initial signs of Alzheimer’s disease vary from person to person, but some common early indicators include: short-term memory loss, impaired reasoning, trouble finding the right words, difficulty following a recipe, struggling with simple calculations, and forgetting important dates.

Individuals with Alzheimer’s can get lost in familiar surroundings and not know how they got there. They may get off track in the middle of a conversation and not know how to continue or they repeat themselves. Those suffering with Alzheimer’s can also experience drastic mood changes like bouts of depression, fearfulness, anxiety, and suspicion of family and caregivers.

Participation ideas:

• Get involved with local Alzheimer’s support groups.  Provide refreshments and information on your company’s respite services and in-home support for those caring for Alzheimer’s family members at home.
• Contact local civic groups that regularly host community meetings and volunteer to speak about Alzheimer’s disease detection and prevention. Hand out information on how your company can help.
• Spread the word through your social media posts about the latest Alzheimer’s research such as diagnostic studies, prevention trials, and quality of life studies.
• Commit to sponsoring a team into the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s event in your community. The walks raise awareness and money for Alzheimer’s research.

Visit tagwebstore.com for Home Health and Hospice Educational and Marketing Materials.

October Digest: Get more referrals with these great ideas

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. As our nation’s senior population grows, more Americans will be living with the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, about 5.4 million Americans already are living with the disease, making it the most common form of dementia.

• Present a free class on staying mentally sharp at your area senior centers. The Exercise Your Brain class from the Health Matters Education Series offers an easy-to-follow presentation about ways to keep mentally fit to stave off problems in memory and thinking. Find it at www.tagwebstore.com/healthmatters-education-series.php.
• After the class, leave behind puzzle books personalized to your agency to not only keep these potential clients mentally engaged, but to create broader awareness of your agency and educate about the benefits of home health, hospice or private duty care. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/puzzlebook.php.
• Visit with local neurologists, geriatric psychiatrists and geriatricians to tell them about your Alzheimer’s program. Demonstrate your agency’s serious focus on working with Alzheimer’s patients by showing off your Alzheimer’s disease patient education guide. Find it at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php. Leave behind stacks of your Alzheimer’s disease information brochures in their waiting rooms. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/disease-information-brochures.php.

If you haven’t ordered personalized home care or hospice calendars yet, it’s time to stop waiting. Agency calendars are a durable, useful tool that your referral sources, prospects and patients will refer to all year long. This is one of the most cost effective and versatile tools you can have in your marketing toolbox – don’t gloss over this once-a-year opportunity to make sure your name, services and logo are font and center with everyone in your service area. It’s something they will WANT to see every day. Order by Oct. 31 and automatically get 25 free with every 100 calendars that you order.

• Make sure your fall outreach efforts include events and opportunities to distribute traditional wall calendars. Time-tested and durable, calendars will remind referral sources, patients and others about your services, and will make them aware of healthcare observances and any other dates that are important to your agency. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/homecare-calendars.php.
• Equip your staff with durable and indispensable weekly planners. The spiral-bound planners include plenty of space to keep track of appointments and notes, and also include health care observances. Referral sources will love these, too. Find them at https://tagwebstore.com/weekly-planners.php. Other great options include notebook planners (https://tagwebstore.com/notebook-planners.php) and pocket planners (https://tagwebstore.com/pocket-planners.php).

When your staff isn’t in the home with a client, someone else usually is. It’s someone who does hour after hour of work with no expectation of pay or recognition. And it’s someone we are all grateful for: the family caregiver. November is National Family Caregivers Month. It’s a wonderful time to show family caregivers that what they’re doing matters far more than they know.

• Visit caregiver support groups in your area and supply refreshments for a meeting in November. Ask to address the group and tell them about the benefits of home care, making sure to distribute your agency’s marketing brochures. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/marketing-brochures.php.
• Distribute FAQ brochures to all the libraries and coffee shops in your area. Be sure to leave them at community counters wherever possible. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/faq-brochures.php.
• Make the lives of your patients and their family caregivers easier by giving them a clear guide that shows them when their symptoms require a call to emergency services, to their home health nurse, or require no action at all. Zone flyers make this simple and are personalized to your agency. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/zone-flyer.php.
• Set up a booth at community events this month and distribute agency materials, including disease information brochures personalized to your agency. These brochures educate on specific conditions and tell how home health, private duty or hospice care can help. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/disease-information-brochures.php.

Plan for October: Get ready for National Home Care and Hospice Month!

It’s here! National Home Care and Hospice Month is finally here! Well, almost. There are still a few weeks left before the celebrations start, but October is the time to kick your planning into high gear. November’s National Home Care and Hospice Month is a great month to not only celebrate the important work you do, but to draw positive community attention to your agency.

• Use special National Home Care Month or National Hospice Month greeting cards, magnets and bookmarks to recognize the efforts of your employees, volunteers and referral partners – all the physicians, discharge planners, case managers, social workers and others who play a huge role in making your work possible. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/homecaremonth/index.php.
• As you educate the community about what home care or hospice care is all about, use informative flip charts to ensure referral sources know when it is appropriate to refer a patient to your services. Guidelines for Home Health Admission are personalized to your agency and list the diagnosis codes for more than 200 common conditions. Find them at: www.tagwebstore.com/hhflipchart/. Guidelines for Hospice Flip Charts detail the admission guidelines for many common hospice diagnoses. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/flipchart-hospice.php.
• Demonstrate to referral sources that you are not only qualified, but have a proven record of assisting patients with a variety of conditions. Patient Outcomes Brochures for Physicians outline the services you offer per disease. They also provide real data about your quality outcomes and how they compare to your competitors. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-physicians.php. Find accompanying brochures for patients at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-senior.php.
• Distribute FAQ brochures about Home Care, Hospice or Private Duty care at health fairs and community events in November as you educate about your services. Brochures include answers to commonly asked questions about coverage, payment, services, eligibility and more. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/faq-brochures.php.

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. As our nation’s senior population grows, more Americans will be living with the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, about 5.4 million Americans already are living with the disease, making it the most common form of dementia.

• Present a free class on staying mentally sharp at your area senior centers. The Exercise Your Brain class from the Health Matters Education Series offers an easy-to-follow presentation about ways to keep mentally fit to stave off problems in memory and thinking. Find it at www.tagwebstore.com/healthmatters-education-series.php.
• After the class, leave behind puzzle books personalized to your agency to not only keep these potential clients mentally engaged, but to create broader awareness of your agency and educate about the benefits of home health, hospice or private duty care. Find them at hwww.tagwebstore.com/puzzlebook.php.
• Visit with local neurologists, geriatric psychiatrists and geriatricians to tell them about your Alzheimer’s program. Demonstrate your agency’s serious focus on working with Alzheimer’s patients by showing off your Alzheimer’s disease patient education guide. Find it at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php. Leave behind stacks of your Alzheimer’s disease information brochures in their waiting rooms. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/disease-information-brochures.php.

Diabetes is a condition that affects about 25.8 million children and adults in the United States, or about 8.3 percent of the population. Among older adults, the percentage skyrockets to nearly 27 percent. Position yourself as a local health care leader and make a commitment this American Diabetes Month to join the fight against diabetes and promote healthier living for people of all ages.

• Call on local endocrinologists and discuss your agency’s services for people with diabetes. Leave behind personalized glucose monitoring logs for the physician to distribute to patients. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/glucoselog.php. The logs provide a place to easily record blood glucose and important screenings and will go with patients wherever they go.
• Diabetes can affect the blood vessels in the eyes, making optometrists and ophthalmologists an important health care provider for these patients. Leave stacks of agency brochures about diabetes in the offices of your local eye doctors. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/disease-information-brochures.php.
• Include diabetes-focused Zone Flyers in your regular care program for clients with diabetes. The flyers help people assess the severity of their symptoms and determine whether a call to their home health nurse or to 911 is warranted. Be sure to show your referral sources this important tool and explain how it helps reduce re-hospitalizations and makes patients more involved in their own care. Find it at www.tagwebstore.com/zone-flyer.php.