Plan for November: The holidays are here! Are you ready?

If you haven’t started thinking about Christmas and Hanukkah yet, now is the time. Thanksgiving will be here in a blink and you don’t want to get caught unprepared for your business’ holiday needs. So get in a festive mood and make sure you’re ready to not only celebrate, but share the season with your referral sources, health care partners, clients and staff.

• Holiday Cards are a time-tested way to get into the spirit of the season, capture the attention of your referral sources and health care partners, and send a subtle reminder of the value of home care. Cards are personalized to your agency and are appropriate for all faiths. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/holiday-cards.php.
• Stand out from the holiday noise by sending a card that can be used all year long. Holiday calendar cards are personalized to your agency and include a one-page 2014 calendar. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/holiday-calendar-cards.php.
• Spread holiday cheer with a high-value, low-cost giveaway for clients, referral sources, senior centers, and employees. Personalized CDs with beautiful instrumental versions of many holiday classics will enliven any environment and make sure your agency stays top of mind year after year. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/holiday-cd.php.

Speaking of holidays, New Year’s Day is only weeks away, which of course means the end of 2013. If you haven’t already, it’s definitely time to make sure your agency is putting the new year to work for you. Don’t miss out on the incredible opportunity to put your agency’s name and contact information in the hands of referral sources, prospects and clients all year long.

• Personalized home care and hospice wall calendars are an excellent way to promote your agency while educating referral sources and patients. Distribute them to everyone and ensure that your agency maintains community awareness throughout the year. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/homecare-calendars.php.
• Call on local senior centers and referral sources this month and make sure to leave behind a lasting and helpful reminder of who you are and what you do. Personalized magnetic calendars will find homes on refrigerators and file cabinets all year long, jogging their memory about your agency every time they glance at the date. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/magnetic-calendar.php.
• Arm your employees with notebook planners or weekly planners personalized to your agency that will not only accentuate their professional appearance, but will keep them organized. Planners feature plenty of room for notes and scheduling, and also list important health care observances. These also are useful tools for referral sources. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/notebook-planners.php and www.tagwebstore.com/weekly-planners.php.
• Attend local senior-focused health fairs and distribute personalized pocket planners to prospects. Clients also will find these helpful for keeping track of their appointments – and remembering your agency name if they need home care services again in 2014. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/pocket-planners.php.

December is an important month in health care because it’s the time of year when we highlight one of the world’s most serious diseases: AIDS.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1.1 million Americans ages 13 and older were living with HIV in 2009, including 207,600 who had undiagnosed infections. About 50,000 people are newly infected with the virus that causes AIDS each year. In fact, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV once every 9.5 minutes. Additionally, about 30,000 people were diagnosed with AIDS in 2011. This is in addition to the estimated 487,692 people already living with an AIDS diagnosis in 2010. The disease remains deadly in spite of recent medical advances – 15,529 people with an AIDS diagnosis died in 2010 in this country. About 636,048 people with an AIDS diagnosis in the United States have died since the disease was discovered.

This International AIDS Awareness Month, make a commitment to increase community awareness of AIDS and HIV and the ways your agency can help. Be sure to also take part in World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

• Call on local clinics specializing in AIDS and HIV. Offer to host a free chronic disease management course that their clients will find helpful. Find the class at www.tagwebstore.com/healthmatters-education-series.php.
• Hospice agencies should be sure to leave behind personalized hospice specialty care flyers about HIV for use by agency personnel. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/hospice-specialty-care-flyers.php.
• Call on HIV specialists in your community and discuss the benefits of hospice care for end-stage AIDS patients. Leave behind a personalized Guidelines for Hospice Admission flip chart, a physician tool that describes the common end-stage indicators for common illnesses, including HIV disease. Find them at https://www.tagwebstore.com/flipchart-hospice.php.
• Provide HIV specialists with agency-personalized pain and symptom logs for them to distribute to their patients (and your prospects). The logs provide an easy way for patients to track their pain and other symptoms and communicate this information to their physician. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/painsymptomlog.php.

Plan for June: Health and Safety

National Safety Month takes place each June and it’s a great opportunity to reach out to your community and educate on home safety and how your agency can help. The National Safety Council-supported observance is an effort to educate people and influence their behaviors in relation to the top causes of preventable death and injury. Here are some things you can do to participate.

• Host a free educational class at your area senior centers on the importance and basics of fall prevention. Find a ready-made class at www.tagwebstore.com/healthmatters-education-series.php.
• Show your referral sources this month that you are committed to ensuring patient safety. Integrate patient education guides for fall prevention into your services for those at an elevated risk for a fall. The guides also are an eye-catching tool you can use to show referral sources how seriously you take this issue. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.
• Stock physician waiting rooms – especially those of orthopedic specialists – with flyers about home safety. Be sure to include information about your agency’s fall risk assessments. Find the flyers at www.tagwebstore.com/health-care-flyers.php.
• Health and safety go hand in hand. Give patients a powerful tool to track their health records, including medications, immunizations, blood sugar and more. Health Logs will go everywhere they go and will keep your agency top of mind. Distribute them to your both your clients and prospective clients. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/healthlog.php.

June is Men’s Health Month and National Men’s Health Week is June 10-16. Stand up for the men in your community and remind them that when they improve their health, they improve not only their lives, but the lives of everyone they care about. Focus efforts this month on educating about health issues that particularly affect men. Consider this: According to the Centers for Disease Control, women are 100% more likely to visit the doctor for annual exams and preventive services than men.

• Take part in community health fairs this month and hand out flyers about topics such as prostate cancer, high blood pressure, medication management and pain management. Find them www.tagwebstore.com/health-care-flyers.php.
• About 67 million American adults (one-third of the population!) have high blood pressure, a condition that contributes to heart attack, stroke and heart failure. Distribute blood pressure logs to the offices of general practitioners and internists to give to their patients with elevated blood pressure. The logs provide a consistent way to get attention for your agency while helping potential patients manage their condition. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/bloodpressurelog.php.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing 307,225 men in 2009 – one in every four deaths! Volunteer to teach a free class on heart health at a local Lions Club, Kiwanis Club or VFW.  Find a ready-made class at www.tagwebstore.com/healthmatters-education-series.php.
• It’s time to think about doing something big. Plan an event to educate your community’s men (and women) about an important Medicare benefit they may not realize they have: The Annual Wellness Visit, which includes a review of medical history and risk factors and a personalized prevention plan. Provide snacks, informative booths and access to a clinician to perform the annual exams. Find a kit to help you plan and execute the ev