LHC #149 - Home Health Care Thanksgiving Blessings

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A Time to Give Thanks

A Thanksgiving Blessing to Our Clients, Friends, and Advocates

November 26, 2008

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In this issue...

-- A Time to Give Thanks

-- History and Tradition in Home Care

-- Creating a Time Line of Your Agency

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome

...to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. This special report is for CEOs and senior executives of America's leading home health care companies. This report is published every other Wednesday by Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company for our clients, friends, and advocates who want to grow their home health businesses.

For ideas to grow your Private Duty Home Care business, subscribe to Private Duty Today, the bi-weekly newsletter for non-medical home care CEOs. Your complimentary subscription is available at www.privatedutytoday.com.


A Time to Give Thanks

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Write press releases that POP!To our Clients, Friends and Advocates,

At this Thanksgiving time, we want to thank you who have been so important to us this year. We truly appreciate your business.

This has been another incredible year for Leading Home Care. Our business continues to grow and we owe it all to you, our loyal customers.

Home Care in America is an amazing business, and we're so thankful to be a small part of it. We are so appreciative that we have an opportunity to share our talents and resources to help home care companies grow their businesses and get ready for the future. We truly believe that the work you're doing is so very important for your patients, your clients, your caregivers and your communities.

Please accept our personal thanks for all the blessings you have brought to us. We wish you all the best in 2009.

Very Best Regards,

Your Leading Home Care Team

Stephen Tweed
Elizabeth Jeffries
Jason Tweed
Diane West
Julie Raque
Kyley Hoffman
Tammy Schenck
Diane Buckles


History and Tradition in Home Care

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As I sit writing to you this morning, I'm having trouble concentrating. I'm distracted by the aroma of food cooking in the background. We're getting ready for the big Thanksgiving day tomorrow on my cousin's farm.

My family has been gathering on my uncle's farm in Hummel's Wharf, Pennsylvania for more than 40 years. And before that, we gathered on Uncle Earl's farm in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania. My cousin, Jerry, still lives on the farm, and we'll all be gathering there tomorrow. There'll probably be 40 or 50 people around numerous tables pulled together to consume four turkeys, and all the fixins.

Yesterday, I was helping my mother move and I looked through some boxes of pictures. There were pictures of past Thanksgivings and other family gatherings of the same folks who will be there tomorrow. I brought a stack of photos along, and we'll have great fun looking through old pictures and laughing about good times past.

As I think about old family photos, and recall the rich history and tradition of our family here in central Pennsylvania. It reminds me of the rich history and tradition of home health care in America.

At the beginning of the year, I was working on a new keynote speech for home health association conferences, and I created Home Health Care 2020: The Six Pillars of the Agency Of The Future. In this speech I take the audience quickly through the history of home health care, going back to 1880.

Yes, that's right,1880! Our research has identified the beginning of home health care with The Fruit and Flower Mission which began in Albany, New York in 1880 and became the VNA of Albany. Back then, some kind hearted local citizens of Albany decided that sick people would feel better if they were given fruit and flowers.

Here are some other key dates from that era:

Today, the VNS of New York is the largest single location home health agency in the country. In 2007, their 12,000 employees served 115,000 patients with over 2,300,000 visits and generated over $942,000,000 in revenue and provided $29,000,000 in charitable care. The VNS of New York began with Lillian Wald, the first public health nurse, and her Henry Street Settlement.

What a rich and powerful history we have in home health care, and what wonderful traditions have been created over the past 128 years.


Creating a Time Line of Your Agency

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What does the history of your agency look like? A number of years ago, I was conducting an Executive Strategy Retreat for a client. The company was celebrating the anniversary of its founding, and the CEO was particularly proud of the company he had built.

Prior to the retreat, I interviewed a number of the agency leaders. I learned about key dates in the history of the company. Then I put together a rough time line of the company's history. During the executive retreat, the participant filled in the blanks, adding from their memory key events. They laughed, hooped, shouted, and even cried as they recalled key events in the company's history.

Then, they sat down for a meaningful discussion of where the company is today, and were they want to take it in the future. Although I had facilitated their executive retreat every 12 to 18 months for ten years, this was by far the most powerful experience we had. What a great way to connect the past, the present, and the future of your company.

For assistance in planning, organizing, and conducting your next Executive Strategy Retreat, call us today at 502-339-0653.


About the Author

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Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For nearly 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home care companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of five books, four of which were written specifically for the home care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim President & CEO of a $25 million home care company.

Stephen is a past-President of the National Speakers Association, a 3500 member international society of experts who speak professionally. He is also the father of a 38 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis.

Meet the entire Leading Home Care Team


Permission to Reproduce

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Permission is granted to healthcare publications, associations and companies to reproduce this article in your publication, or to distribute copies to your leaders, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. Copyright 2006 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."



Contact Leading Home Care

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phone: 1-866-209-5101

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