Home Health & Hospice Week

Pointer: Don’t overlook state and local resources.

Your staff education program can benefit from a variety of tools that are at your fingertips:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers an array of vaccination information toolkits, including ones for clinicians, essential workers and community-based organizations, at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/toolkits/index.html. The kits aim to help you “build confidence about COVID-19 vaccination among your healthcare teams … and staff,” the CDC says.
• The Home Care Association of America offers a tool to educate caregivers about the vaccine at https://employer.mycnajobs.com/vaccine-toolkit-download.
• The “Be Wise, Immunize” campaign at https://bewiseimmunize.com “provides home care workers trustworthy information about the COVID-19 vaccine,” the website says. “It is essential that home care aides receive the vaccine to protect themselves, their families, and their clients. This website will outline facts about the vaccine and why it is safe to receive.” The Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice is “scaling out” this program, TAHC’s Rachel Hammon says.
• The National Association for Home Care & Hospice has compiled a list of COVID-19 resources, including many referencing education, at www.nahc.org/resources-services/coronavirus-resources.
• Check with your state Department of Health for relevant education materials, suggests Roger Noyes with the Home Care Association of New York State.

Stay tuned: The Biden administration is reportedly poised to launch a massive education campaign to persuade Americans to get the vaccination. However, officials are holding off deployment of the program until vaccine supplies are more robust and available, according to press reports.