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.
These face-to-face visits can help to educate your local press
and local elected officials about what home care is.
Recognition of the work of your staff can include stories about
their role in delivering important care to patients.
With a local angle, these will be useful for your local
press.
Make speakers from your organization available to discuss home
care at meetings of civic or community groups.
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.
