Home Health & Hospice Week

Have you let home care month nearly pass you by without marking the occasion? It's not too late to celebrate -- and raise employee morale as well as referral source and patient awareness.

November is National Home Care Month and National Hospice Month. NAHC has designated the themes this year as "Home Care: Because there is no Place Like Home" and "Hospice: Graduating to the Next Dimension."

To celebrate staff, you can do something as simple as giving them an edible treat with a personalized thank-you note, NAHC suggests. On a bigger scale, you can host a banquet honoring your employees and volunteers.

To raise awareness in your community, you might try submitting an op ed letter to your local newspaper or news website. Sharon Rathel of Flint River Hospice in Bainbridge, Ga. had such a letter published on local news site bainbridgega.com.

Or you can pitch ideas to local media to secure an interview. Glendive Medical Center's Hospice and Home Care office were the topic of such a story in the Billings (Mont.) Economy Examiner.

Don't limit your sights to print media. United Hospital Center's United Home Health and People's Hospice in Bridgeport, W.V. was the subject of a TV news story on WDTV.

For more ideas on how to celebrate and reach out to staff, patients, referral sources, lawmakers, the media, and others in the community, go to www.nahc.org/HCHPCMonth/11/home.html.