Your next home care marketing opportunity: Aphasia Awareness Month

Living with aphasia can be frustrating for both patients and their loved ones. June is National Aphasia Awareness Month.

Make it a point to educate your community about aphasia, its common causes, and how people with aphasia can benefit from your services. Here are some tips to help you get started:

  • Host an educational session on aphasia and ways to improve communication. Find tons of tips and tools at the website of the National Aphasia Association.
  • Educate your referral sources and patients about the role speech-language pathologists play in assisting those with common medical conditions, including aphasia.
  • Visit the Aphasia Awareness Month webpage hosted by the American Stroke Association and stock up on tons of ready-made resources to reach out to your community about this language disorder. Be sure to add their infographics to your company's website.
  • Post an item to your municipal government’s regular meeting agenda seeking to recognize June as Aphasia Awareness Month. Invite your speech-language pathologists to participate. Be sure to speak during the reading of the agenda item or during the meeting’s public comment period about the important work these professionals do. See page 2 at this link for a sample proclamation.
  • Contact your local television morning talk show producers and ask to be featured in a segment about aphasia awareness. Ask one of your agency’s speech-language pathologists to join you. Prepare yourself for the appearance by learning aphasia statistics, common conditions that cause aphasia, and tips to cope.
  • Create a word search puzzle using aphasia terms and personalize it to your agency. Leave stacks of them in the rehabilitation facilities in your area.
  • Locate a patient who is a stroke survivor who has made strides in overcoming their aphasia with the help of your speech-language pathologist. Secure the appropriate releases to speak with the media and then contact your local newspaper for a feature story about this patient, her progress, and how your agency has helped.

April 2015: Lead your market with education and outreach

As competition for home health and hospice clients becomes tougher than ever, it’s important to distinguish yourself from the other providers in your community. You should work to stand out not only for the hard work you do, but for the emphasis you place on being a true partner with your client.

  • One great way to do that is by sending out a personalized agency newsletter. Newsletters take you into your clients’ homes and demonstrate your interest in their well-being. Find ready-made newsletters for home health, private duty or hospice at www.tagwebstore.com/newsletter-products.php. These newsletters are Buy 1 Get 1 free on printing through April 30. Use promo code NEWS50 if ordering online to receive the discount.

Strokes kill more than 800,000 Americans every year, making this condition the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. A staggering 7 million people over age 20 in this country have had a stroke at some point in their lives. The seriousness of this condition underscores how important it is to get involved in raising awareness about strokes and how to prevent them. A perfect time to do that is May: Stroke Awareness Month. You not only may save lives through your outreach efforts, but you’ll be raising awareness of your stroke-specific medical services.

  • Call on clinical referral sources in your community and sell them on your agency’s outcomes when it comes to providing care for stroke patients. Find great Patient Outcomes Brochures for the Physician at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-physicians.php. You can easily show off how you compare to your competitors when it comes to a variety of outcomes measures.
  • The Patient Outcomes Senior Brochures are a natural companion to the physician brochures. They educate about stroke in easy-to-understand language. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-senior.php.
  • While touting your outcomes to physicians, show them that patient education is a strong component of your home health program. Comprehensive Patient Education Guides for Stroke not only are an eye-catching example of your work, but they help patients get more involved in their own care, which improves outcomes. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.
  • Distribute personalized stroke care flyers at community health fairs, libraries, senior centers and anywhere that seniors gather. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/health-care-flyers.php.
  • Stock the offices of referral sources, as well as pharmacies, rehab centers and hospital waiting rooms with rack cards about stroke. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/rack-cards.php.

May is a month when we recognize the vitality of our nation’s seniors. Not only is May Older Americans Month, but National Senior Health and Fitness Day is May 27. Celebrate your community’s seniors while you educate them about the benefits of home care.

  • Call on your top referral sources and distribute health log books for them to distribute to their patients. Physicians will be grateful to have a way for patients to keep track of important information in one place. Patients will carry the logs – and your agency’s contact information – everywhere they go. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/healthlog.php and www.tagwebstore.com/patient-scorecard-logs.php.

More than 50 million Americans are living with some form of arthritis, a joint inflammation that is characterized by pain and stiffness around one or more joints. That means one in five adults is coping with this disease! The CDC reports that about 42 percent of those with arthritis report that the condition limits their activities. May is National Arthritis Month, an awareness event sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation. Help increase awareness of this painful condition in your community while spreading the word about your agency’s services.

  • Visit the offices of your local professionals who specialize in treating those with arthritis and leave behind a stack of brochures about arthritis and how your agency’s services can help. Be sure to go beyond rheumatologists, internists, orthopedists, physical medicine, and family practice doctors. Others who encounter these patients include physical and occupational therapists, nutritionists, chiropractors and acupuncturists. Find the brochures at www.tagwebstore.com/brochure.php.
  • When speaking with potential referral sources, show them how serious you are about arthritis care. Show off your arthritis treatment program’s professionalism with comprehensive patient education guides. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.
  • Market your agency’s services while educating about arthritis by placing rack cards in stands at senior centers, pharmacies, rehabilitation facilities and independent living facilities. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/rack-cards.php.