Home Care’s Stories

Sometimes a collection of stories can be as powerful as a carefully researched white paper or legislation introduced in Congress. A compelling story about providing care speaks more loudly than a page of statistics.

Consider this story from a home care provider’s experience in Mississippi.

A diabetes patient receiving home care had gotten instructions about watching her diet yet was readmitted to the hospital because she apparently had consumed high-sugar foods. After several rounds of hospitalizations followed by detailed instruction about diet, the provider asked a home health aide to spend a full day with the patient at home to determine what the problem was. On the afternoon of the health aide’s visit, the patient’s granddaughter stopped by to drop off her daily treat for her grandmother — a “slush-puppy,” which is a high-sugar frozen drink.

That ended the mystery of high-sugar food. It also underscored the importance of the close link between provider and patient in the home care setting. The provider was committed to going beyond the “call of duty” to take care of this grandmother in the community.

Why Stories Are Important

Every home care provider has stories like this that illuminate the human side of their service and their successes. These are stories about solving problems one person at a time, improving quality of life, responding to small emergencies and caring for home care patients during large-scale disasters — like the multiple hurricanes that battered Southeastern states last year.

Home care providers have a unique and privileged view of the daily miracles of home care. The relationship between patient and provider is often personal and emotional as well as medical. Last month, I wrote about political capital in Washington. As a result of their shared experience, home care patients and providers have emotional capital captured in these stories. They have real power.

Success stories need to be told, locally and nationally. Otherwise home care will suffer from over-generalizations based on a handful of negative stories. Growing political pressure to squeeze Medicare reimbursements fuels a search for negative stories.

Let’s Get Visible

So let’s get visible. The home care community has a long track record of superb service to Americans in their hour of need. Let’s build on that foundation and put a human face on home care.

Consider some of these ideas for informing your local community, including the press and elected officials, about the importance of home care:

• Collect home care stories Make a concerted effort to collect stories and testimonials about ways your services have improved lives.
• Home care visits or facility tours These face-to-face visits can help to educate your local press and local elected officials about what home care is.
• Regular profiles of home care staff Recognition of the work of your staff can include stories about their role in delivering important care to patients.
• Letters to the editor or op-eds about home care issues With a local angle, these will be useful for your local press.
• Speakers’ bureau Make speakers from your organization available to discuss home care at meetings of civic or community groups.
• Local television Local cable access stations are often receptive to educational programming ideas on health issues, including home care.

All of these avenues can communicate the home care story, especially when health care policy issues arise that could threaten patient access to care. We can expect many of those in the months ahead as Congress searches for ways to cut Medicare spending.

But nothing is as powerful as local providers caring for patients in their communities. Providers are vested in promoting the best of patient outcomes, and that message will remain a constant in the home care family.

Kay Cox is president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, Alexandria, Va. For more information about AAHomecare, visit www.aahomecare.org, or call 703/836-6263.