Heart Health

Home is where the heart is, and home health cares for your heart at home. There is no better way to start off the new year than by promoting heart health and your agency’s role in caring for those with heart disease.

Plan now so you can hit the ground running in February when heart month kicks off:

Home health care provides multiple benefits for recovering heart patients and those suffering with chronic heart failure (CHF). Stay in front of your referral sources all year long, and never be empty handed. Visit TAGwebstore.com for all your home health and hospice print media.   

Diabetes and the Link to Heart Disease

Living with diabetes poses many challenges, not the least of which is the increased risk of having a heart attack.

Over time, high levels of blood sugar can damage the circulatory system and the nerves that control the heart muscle. This puts people with diabetes at a high risk for heart disease. In fact, the younger a person is at the onset of diabetes the more likely they are to experience some degree of cardiovascular disease.

Conditions common to diabetes such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol can also lead to nerve damage throughout the body. This is especially dangerous for those with heart disease as they can experience a heart attack without feeling any chest pain. These silent heart attacks present only mild symptoms such as heartburn, indigestion, fatigue, or muscle aches. The subtly of these symptoms can cause people to delay seeking medical attention, which can result in serious heart damage or death.

Home health nurses provide diabetic patients an additional line of defense against a silent heart attack. The frequency of their evaluations creates a patient familiarity that enables them to recognize silent heart attack symptoms. Many agencies also incorporate telemonitoring technology* to closely monitor high risk patients.

Tips on how your agency can get involved with National Diabetes Month this November:

  • Include telemonitoring information in your November marketing. Highlight the benefits of it for patients who need continuous blood sugar levels, blood pressure, heart activity and respiratory monitoring.

  • Post on your social media outlets about factors that can increase risk for heart disease:

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/diabetes/why-diabetes-matters/cardiovascular-disease--diabetes

  • Share your knowledge about diabetes prevention with civic groups. Provide information on your agency and the services you provide.

  • Host a diabetes and heart friendly holiday cooking demonstration at a big box store in your community. Pass out branded print media and yummy samples is permissible.

Visit our webstore for all your November home health and hospice marketing media.

*Telemonitoring technology uses smart devices to gather and send information remotely to allow virtual 24-hour nursing.

https://knowdiabetesbyheart.org/

Market Heart Health in February

Heart health will be highlighted throughout the month of February to encourage healthier living and heart disease prevention. Use this observance to emphasize the benefits of discharging to home health when calling on heart specialists within your service area.

Cardiac patients routinely undergo procedures that require post-hospital care. Supply your referral sources print media featuring your services and how partnering with your agency can expedite patient recovery and reduce readmissions.

How discharging to Home Health can benefit hospitals:

  • Reduce readmissions

  • Reduce length of stay

  • Reduce urgent/emergency care

  • Improve outcomes and control cost

How discharging to Home Health can benefit physicians:

  • Access to current clinical assessment data and outcome feedback

  • Improved case management thereby reducing calls

  • Early detection / intervention

  • Streamlined plan-of-care

  • Improved physician follow-up

How to incorporate Heart Health in your February marketing strategy:

  • Partner with your referring Cardiologist and the local Red Cross to sponsor a CPR training event. Provide heart disease specific print media customized with your company branding.

  • Celebrate National Wear Red Day to raise awareness about women and heart disease. Encourage your staff to wear red on February 1st. Visit Go Red for Women for more information.

  • Organize a lunch walk with your staff and your neighboring offices to promote daily exercise.

  • Share heart healthy recipes on your social media outlets throughout the month of February.

Grab some special edition Heart Month print media and start building referrals.

Visit TAGWebStore.com for all your Home Health and Hospice marketing needs.

Related topic of Interest:  Portable defibrillators … should you get one? 

Heart Disease and Home Health

The Fall of the year is a time that traditionally brings family, friends and celebration to mind. It’s also a time when many people tend to overindulge in food and drink. While this behavior might not have repercussions for young healthy adults, adults with poor cardio heath could be increasing their chance of developing Congestive Heart Failure.

Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is the progressive deterioration of heart function as a result of any number of cardiovascular disorders or conditions that overwork the heart. CHF is not curable but it can be managed in its earlier stages with medication, lifestyle changes, and careful monitoring. Care plans vary depending on the underlying cause but many require some form of cardiac rehabilitation. Choosing home health as a rehabilitation partner can maximize a patient’s activity tolerance, provide better case management, and help identify any signs of disease progression.

Home health care improves outcomes for CHF patients while minimizing the risk of complication and readmission. Many agencies are now using telemonitoring systems to closely monitor their CHF patients. Telemonitoring has been found to decrease hospital admissions, improve patient satisfaction, and reduce overall cost of care. 

As the disease progresses home health support is a good solution for managing medicines, and transitioning after a hospital stay. Advanced CHF patients should consider a private duty care service to help with daily tasks, housekeeping, and running errands. Remind your referral sources about the benefits of including home health, private duty, and hospice as care partners for their CHF patients.

Get the word Out:

We have disease specific materials for Home Health, and Hospice that provide patient education while promoting your agency’s services. Visit the TAG webstore for information on our CHF Management Guide for Physician flyers, CHF Health Care flyers for patients, and our  Guide to Hospice and the Patient with Heart Disease brochures.

Cholesterol Awareness

National Cholesterol Education Month is observed every September to raise awareness about cholesterol and its effect on cardiovascular disease and stroke. It’s a good time to supply your referral partners with patient brochures on these diseases.

Cholesterol is an essential substance produced in the liver and carried throughout the body by proteins. There are two types of cholesterol:  LDL, or bad cholesterol, and HDL, the good cholesterol. High levels of LDL become a concern because they can create fatty deposits in blood vessels which contributes to the development of atherosclerosis, significantly increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke.

HDL actually promotes artery health by reducing inflammation and blocking the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. There are indications that HDL may even have the ability to pull some of the cholesterol out of arterial walls and transport it back to the liver where it can be removed from the body.

Cholesterol can largely be regulated by diet and exercise. However, some people have an inherited propensity to high cholesterol called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) that can’t effectively be controlled without medication. People with diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, hypothyroidism, or women who are pregnant tend to have higher levels of cholesterol and should be closely monitored.

A combined cholesterol level that is less that 200mg/dL is considered healthy.

Standard Cholesterol Guidelines:

LDL levels should be less than 100 mg/dL

  • 100-129 mg/dL is acceptable for those not at risk for heart disease
  • 130 -159 mg/dL is borderline high
  • 160-189 mg/dL is high
  • 190 mg/dL or higher is very high

HDL levels should be kept at 60 mg/dL or higher

  • 41 mg/dL -59 mg/dL is borderline low
  • 40 mg/dL or less is a major risk of heart disease

Get involved by:

  • Sharing cholesterol information throughout the month of September on your social media feeds.
  • Partnering with local healthy eateries to host lunch-n-learns for local non-profits that align with your mission. Provide information about cholesterol monitoring and demonstrate your expertise and value as a Home Health provider.
  • Providing your public health center with brochures about disease prevention.

Visit tabwebstore .com for all your Home Health and Hospice Marketing essentials.