Home Health & Hospice Week

Turkey isn't all you should show gratitude for this month.

Don’t let the impending home health final rule make you forget National Home Care & Hospice Month starting Nov. 1 and Home Care Aide Week running Nov. 7-13.

Home care and hospice companies have already kicked off their observances and celebrations.

For example: CaringEdge Home Health and Hospice’s Whitney Rath-Wald spoke with KFYR TV about the month, explaining about hospice. “There’s misconceptions on what hospice is,” Rath-Wald told the Bismarck, North Dakota TV station. “People believe it’s the last days, maybe weeks to life. However, the Medicare benefit is written that it is at least six months.”

Sue Ellen Stuart, executive director of the Visiting Nurse Service of Ithaca in New York, recently spoke with the local Tompkins Weekly newspaper about the celebration. People “want to be home, especially when they’re sick,” Stuart said. “They recover better, and they just do better overall. And I want to give people a choice — that they are able to be at home rather than to a higher level of care.”

The VNS’ celebration looks a little different this year, Stuart continued. “Because of COVID, we’re not having a community event, which we’ve done in the past,” she said. For aide week, “what we’ve chosen to do is put together gift bags that we’re going to be putting lots of goodies in to give to the home health aides to say thank you instead. There’s posters on all the buses … to tell the home health aides thank you. And there’ll be other posters that we’re making that will be throughout the community.”

Interim Healthcare, newly purchases by Wellspring Capital Management (see story, p. x), is commemorating the event in a big way. The franchisor has launched a campaign, “The Difference Is Home,” which includes patient testimonies, Harris Poll survey results, a “Wall of Inspiration” where the public can leave notes of gratitude to home care workers, and giveaways.

In particular, Interim is inviting aides to enter a contest for daily giveaways which include gift cards and access to free educational webinars. More information is at https:// differenceishome.com.

Even a little appreciation can go a long way. For example, you can give a pack of Extra gum to staff with the message “The difference between ordinary & extraordinary is that little extra you do!” offers Minnesota HomeCare Association member Divine Home Care on the MHCA website.