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:
Don’t give up-you are a patient ADVOCATE – if the patient needs to help, it’s your moral obligation to help them.
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.
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.
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!
