Lead the charge for disability awareness this December

Dec. 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It’s a day when people across the globe work to raise awareness of the contributions those with disabilities can and do make to our society. It’s also a time when we should stop and advocate for this very important group.

According to the United Nations, about 15 percent of the global population lives with some form of disability. Work to raise awareness this December and to celebrate those you serve and those in your ranks who are living with a disability.

• Place an item on your municipal government’s regular meeting agenda seeking to proclaim Dec. 3 as International Day of Persons with Disabilities in your community. Sign up to speak at the reading of the agenda item or during the meeting’s public comment portion. Be sure to highlight the work home care does to help improve the lives of disabled clients. Here's a sample proclamation.
• Contact your community’s office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Offer to host an educational session on a topic such as fall prevention or understanding depression. The Health Matters Education Series is a set of done-for-you classes for the senior community that is designed for a non-clinician to present. Call 866-232-6477 ext 2018 for pricing on individual components.
• Offer your agency’s support to the Wounded Warrior Project. The organization helps aid and support injured service members. Host a community bake sale and donate the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project.
• Take the time to highlight your agency’s commitment to hiring employees with disabilities. Write a short piece about the need to provide employment opportunities regardless of disabilities and post it to your website or blog.
• Promote your agency’s free fall prevention assessments at community health fairs and at senior centers all month long. Helping make the home environment safer for those with disabilities such as vision impairment, mobility problems, and other physical conditions can prevent unnecessary accidents and injuries. Be sure to hand out professional brochures on the importance of fall prevention and remember to let your physician referral sources know about the steps you're taking in this area as well.

Ramp up COPD education this November

According to the American Lung Association, 12.7 million American adults were estimated to have COPD in 2011, but another 24 million had impaired lung function, indicating an underdiagnosis of COPD. This serious disease claims the lives of thousands of people every year and is one of the nation’s leading causes of death.

November is National COPD Awareness Month. Join the effort to educate about this condition and the ways home care can help.

• Volunteer to moderate a COPD support group in your community, and don’t forget to provide the refreshments. Connecting your home care services with these groups will allow them to better understand the options available through all types of home care services. Start by learning more about COPD.  
• Print out fact sheets on COPD created by the National Institutes of Health, personalize them with your agency’s contact information, and post them on bulletin boards in public spaces throughout your community. Ask retailers and other businesses to post them in their windows as well. Find them here and here.
• Distribute to your community informative brochures that list the symptoms, causes and risk factors for COPD, as well as the services your agency provides.
• Sponsor a lunch at a local respiratory therapist’s office and introduce your agency’s services. Ask to include the therapist in a local speaker’s event in order to network their practice.
• Join the DRIVE4COPD campaign, a national effort sponsored by the Association for Respiratory Care, that aims to identify those who may be unaware they are at risk for developing COPD.
• Team up with a physician and host a lunchtime seminar on effective smoking cessation treatment. Be sure to promote your agency’s many COPD-related home health services.