Well, Mom’s back in the hospital. And we didn’t get to see a Home Health Nurse – YET…

The last time I wrote, Mom was out of the hospital after ten days.

 

I left my brother in charge at her house. (What could go wrong?) While I flew to Orlando to be a Keynote Speaker for the Assisting Hands annual conference (Thank you for trusting me with your stage and agency owners!)

 

As my best friend from OT school says, “As the oldest daughter – we are always in the pole position,” and so my quest for Home Health for my Mom continued even on the road.

 

I am happy to say the power of an excellent Home Health agency got me to exactly who I needed to help me.

 

As you know, I had already emailed Interim of (Western PA) Meadville and Erie as their VP is a long-time client and friend. She also is who I email when I need “help” for my family in the area. Interim Erie, their leader Heather shared with me via an email exchange on Saturday: “Oh, your Mom goes to Dr. H? His SW Anne is lovely!” So, as a marketer, I knew exactly what to do now – I had a name!

 

I called Dr. H’s office first thing Monday and left a message for Anne to contact me – which she did. I introduced myself and shared that I was requesting Home Health for my Mom. I shared my Mom’s physical limitations and her medication confusion with her. Anne reported she would request an order from Dr. H, and he would be seeing my Mom that day so that it would be perfect.

 

When my Mom went to see Dr. H during the visit, my brother asked about Home Health, and the Dr reported, “I will review the request.” My brother reported back to me, and I almost flipped a lid again. I had to practice my deep breathing exercises. But this time, I didn’t even have to make a phone call. The next thing I saw come in was an email from Interim reporting Dr. H sent over the order for Home Health! YEAH!

 

I was so happy! Interim was scheduled to come the next day! VICTORY for Home Health services for MOM!

 

I wish I could tell you the rest of the story about how extraordinarily the agency’s clinicians are (and they are!). But, unfortunately, Mom’s platelet count is up, which means she is headed back to the hospital as I write this blog.

 

Lessons learned for marketing:

    1. Don’t give up-you are a patient ADVOCATE – if the patient needs to help, it’s your moral obligation to help them.
    2. Get a name and use it – in this case, one of my favorite Home Health teams knew the name of the Social Worker that I needed to get in touch with – could I have found Anne on my own most likely, but it saved me time, and I was able to get an ally in my quest for Home Health.
    3. I didn’t include this in my story above – I used the TADA call structure for my discussion with Ann, the Social Worker from the High-Performance Sales Process – we can talk about that another day.
    4. You are making a difference in the lives that you serve!

 

Thank you for all your efforts in getting people the care they deserve!

Education is the key – most medical professionals don’t honestly know what you do – they just refer to the most obvious cases. You are there to provide more depth and subtle shades of who is appropriate for your services.

 

This is YOUR TIME TO SHINE!

 

Be the:

EDUCATOR

PATIENT ADVOCATE

THE HOME CARE EXPERT

That you are!

 

Keep shining bright!

Melanie

 

P.S. Want the TADA sales call structure that I used with Anne? Set up a time with Mike that works for you to review the High-Performance Sales Academy!

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WTH? – My Mom was in the hospital for 10 days, and they refused to write a Home Health order

Last Thursday, I woke up at 6 am to a text…

“Mel. I have chest pains, and I am headed to the ER.”

 

She wrote to me at 4:45 am

I jumped out of bed and text her back:

“Mom, what’s going on? Where are you? What is your diagnosis?”

I woke up my husband and said, “I think I need to fly to my mom’s. Can you get the kids ready for school?”

Of course, he said yes, and I immediately went packing and looking for the next flight to make it to the airport on time.

I booked a 10 am flight and raced to the airport.

As I was going through security, my phone rang. I could see it was my Mothers phone number. I quickly made my way through the line and answered the phone.

“Mom – how are you? What’s going on?”

 

She sweetly said, “Well, I thought I was having a heart attack, but I am not.” I said, “OK, I am at the airport, and I will be home by 3 pm,” She said. “Oh, Melanie – Don’t come; you have so much going on, plus today was the day that my five college roommates were coming to your house for our 70th birthday party celebration.”

This is true! Her five roommates from college get together every year and have a girls’ week.

In 2020 they were supposed to celebrate their 70th birthday by going to New Orleans and visiting me, but COVID stopped that. So they rescheduled it starting last Thursday. (see the picture – my Mom is in the blue dress)

I told my Mom – I was at the airport, and I was coming home. My husband Chris and my boys were going to have to be in charge of the 70-year-old birthday party for the ladies.

I flew home and drove to the hospital. They said she presented clinically like she had sepsis. Then she had an extremely high heart rate of 160 while lying in bed.

She went into a fib at least twice and had some irregular rhythms. But, the most concerning part? Her palette count was through the roof. The normal count was about 400k.  Moms’ count was 1.3 and on the move. She would hit a high of 2.3 during her stay.

In all, she spent ten days at the hospital. Finally, on the 9th day, she was “stable.” My brother came in to switch out with me and get ready to “take mom home.”

Before I left the University Hospital – where she received excellent care – I told my Mom, “please make sure you request Home Health before you leave.”

Mom is a traditional Medicare patient with VA secondary. She had a new cardiac diagnosis, new medications, she could only walk 25 ft, and it would wipe her out. She was weak and debilitated. She was unsteady in her gait, and even her bed mobility was a challenge.

As I boarded a plane to go home, Mom texted me, “The nurse says I can’t have Home Health because I didn’t come in here with it.”

So as I sit in 19 A headed to ATL – I am thinking, “WTH? This makes zero sense!”

 

So after a few deep breathing exercises, I called the nurses station when I landed in ATL. I asked the nurse if I could please request Home Health for my Mom, and she said, well, you need to speak with the social worker.

So I asked if I could be transferred. The social worker was kind and said she would ask for an order. And then I got to say the words that are always told to us – “and our patient choice is Interim out of Meadville. We have used them in the past, and I request we are referred to them again.”

She said she would pass the information along to the case manager, and I hung up the phone. I texted my brother and mother that we are in business! She would get Home Health!

I felt good about having a 2nd pair of eyes on my Mom as I sat down on my 2nd flight.

When I landed and turned on my phone, I saw a text from my Mom.

“The doctor came in and said that I am functional and there is no need for Home Health, so he will not write the order. Because I will not qualify.”

 

As my blood pressure began to rise – I asked my Mom:

 

“Did he ask you how many stairs to the entry of the house?”

“Did he ask you if you had a bathroom on the 1st floor?”

“Does he know your bedroom is upstairs?”

“Why, if you de sat into the 80s at nighttime, is that is not a concern?”

 

Of course, the answer is no to all of my questions.

 

Mom has always been the glass-is-half-full type of lady. So consistently, when the staff asked, “How are you feeling” she said, “Great! I feel great!” However, the OT in me (who sat at the bedside for eight days) watched her struggle with bed mobility, ambulation, SOB with activity, and knew better. I assumed that home health would be a given.

Seriously, why would a doctor not order Home Health when a family requested it?

 

How does he know my mother would not qualify?

I am still super mad I was not there. It makes me crazy when a physician who has spent no more than 8 mins a day with a patient believes they know what would qualify for Home Health. I asked my Mom which doctor it was so I could discuss it with him, and she said, “Melanie, just let it go.”

My Mom is not safe at home alone.

She is weak.

She is a fall risk.

She already has needed to be prompted to take her medication by my brother and she doesn’t understand her new beta-blocker or blood thinner.

Why does she need to take them?

*She thinks they are blood pressure medication, and she “doesn’t have blood pressure issues.”

She cannot independently get out of a car.

This personal story is once again a reminder we as marketers MUST ADVOCATE for the patient.

 

The doctors and nurses, while well-meaning, are making some terrible assumptions! I am afraid I made similar assumptions before I became a home health clinician. Functional at the hospital doesn’t mean functional at home.

We MUST continue to educate.

And ADVOCATE for patients just like my Mom who, without my brother, would be back in the hospital today.

This is our MISSION – to get care for everyone who deserves it!

Your care!

 

Keep educating!

Together We Grow

Melanie

 

P.S. – Don’t worry, a call to her PCP is next!

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Ida – Would you make it through a Hurricane like this agency?

Last week here on the gulf coast, we got hit by Ida.

 

I live about 130 miles from New Orleans on the AL coast. We prepared for Ida, but she only gave us rain.

 

One of our favorite old clients serves New Orleans and the Northshore. My history with them goes back 16yrs when the owner, a nurse, Ms. Lenora, called me three days after Katrina hit and said.

“I have lost so many patients. I have to rebuild. Will you help me?”

 

At that time, I lived in Miami, and I was no stranger to hurricanes, but Katrina was a big one, and I was happy to help.

 

I spent the next 3 years helping Ms. Lenora, her son Richard, and her brother-in-law Norman rebuild their agency. It was one of the most challenging times of my marketing career.

 

We “marketed” to doctors who were in makeshift offices in the Lord and Taylor budling. The nurses treated patients under bridges because their homes were not safe.

 

To say it was challenging is an understatement. Ms. Lenora had grit. She built that agency from the ground up, and she was determined to make it again…And she did.

 

When my contract ended as an “Outsourced Sales Manager” after the 3 yrs, she had her full census back to 300 patients and opened her Hospice.

Image from NBC. All rights reserved.

I have worked on and off for this family for the last 16 yrs helping them grow their agency. Ms. Lenora recently passed, and her son Richard asked me for help again to grow his agency.

 

His team is impressive and embraced the structure of the High-Performance Sales Process and the Roadmap to Referrals. When they were engaged in the sales programs with the help of one of the best operators I have ever worked with, their Director of Nursing, Elizabeth, they achieved record admissions.

 

In May, Richard sold the agency to a large national company. And while we do not work with their team currently, when I saw Ida heading their way  – and on the anniversary of Katrina – well, my heart sank.

 

All those patients in their homes. The thought sends shivers down my spine. I text Elizabeth and asked her how they were and could I help? Unfortunately, they didn’t have electricity.  The utilities reported it could be upwards of 4 wks before power would be restored.

 

She had a generator, and she was “ok.”

 

I asked about patients. She said all patients were accounted for! Whew – we have come a long way in our emergency preparedness programs since Katrina and Ida put them to the test again!

But still four weeks without electricity. Can you imagine? It’s currently 89 degrees and 90% humidity. It’s hot…and what about food and water?

 

Many organizations are coming to NOLA and bringing food, water, bug spray (yes, there are a TON of bugs), toilet paper, baby wipes, gas, etc. Our local American Legion is a donation center, and my boys and I cleaned out our pantry for all nonperishable items and went shopping for bug spray and water.

 

My heart goes out to the nurses and therapists who see patients every day even though their own homes and lives have been damaged. Caring for seniors is their calling. The determination and caring of this community are overwhelming.

Thank you to everyone who is donating time, supplies, and money to help these patients and clinicians.

 

We love NOLA – it’s a great city!

 

Keep safe, and thank you for continuing to serve seniors!

 

Melanie

P.S. If you would like to “do something,” this organization has been extremely helpful in the area and acts quickly to respond to the food needs of the community.

 

 

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This Case Manager SCREAMED at me…

This week on a coaching call for sales management, a rep from one of our clients (a Home Health and Hospice agency) reported:

 

“This Case Manager, which I have known a long time, SCREAMED at me that she was SICK AND TIRED of us not accepting her patients and was DONE calling us!

What should I do? We don’t have enough staff. I want to take all the patients, but we don’t have enough staff to take them. We have staff on our hospice side but not on our Home Health side, and our referral sources are MAD!

And when I say MAD- not like your normal – “huffy mad” – more like SCREAMING MAD – the kind when they yell at you – you feel it in your bones.”

This experience is becoming more common. I am hearing from reps and owners; this is their experience.

 

Anger – Compassion fatigue – Apathy.

 

From a logical place, we can recognize our referral sources are tired, angry they are in a situation again with numbers rising, not enough beds, overflow in the halls. They thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but no. The pressure is mounting.

And unfortunately, it is spilling over onto our marketers, intake staff, and clinical staff.

And that, in turn, is impacting our marketer’s psychology.

Sales and Marketing, more than any other profession, is reliant on mindset. Have you ever seen a marketer pull big admission numbers when they are down? No. Me neither.

 

So how to survive when your referral sources are at the end of their rope:

 

    1. Recognize that they and you are in an unusual situation with limited resources.
    2. Identify and accept the things you do not have control over.
    3. Be fully aware that you are performing a crucial role and doing the best you can with the resources available.

How to build resilience for yourself in Home Care, Home Health, and Hospice Marketing:

 

    1. Increase your sense of control by controlling your account activity and follow the formula in the High-Performance Sales Process.
    2. Plan your educational message of the week to increase your sense of control through your schedule and weekly planned sales messages in multiple formats – email – VM- and in-person.
    3. Clarity in your numbers and expectations.

 

How to build a bridge to your referral sources

 

    1. Connect to the human first. Ask them, “How can I support you?” They may laugh, cry or yell, and that’s OK – meet them wherever they are in their process.
    2. Just talking about it and giving them space to share their frustrations is often enough.
    3. The most profound relationships are built in the “trenches” during highly emotional events. And this is a “highly emotional event.”

 

Just know that you will get through this. We have been here before.

 

We know the steps to take care of our referral sources and ourselves.

 

If you would like help in caring for and supporting your team or your referral sources, we can help.

 

Connect with Mike@HomeCareSales.com to discover how.

 

Together we support one another.

Melanie

 

PS: Want to jump ahead and set up a time to talk to Mike? Just go here and choose a time on his calendar. It’s that easy!

 

 

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