Bereavement Professional

  • 1.  Hospice Mailings Thirteen Month

    Posted 01-29-2024 02:31 PM

    Greetings all, 

    I would love to hear experiences with the mailings in your thirteen-month programs.

    • Do you send letters, pamphlets, etc. and frequency.
    • What about ride-alongs (supplemental readings, booklets)? 
    • What cost effective measures? What are you using? 

     



  • 2.  RE: Hospice Mailings Thirteen Month

    Posted 01-30-2024 09:28 AM

    Hi Burl. We send grief education and support group info. via an initial packet and newsletters 3 times per year. We do try to send group reminders via email. Booklets, loss specific material...we may send individually for personalized care.



    ------------------------------
    Karen Monts
    Director, Grief Support Services & Practice Manager, Counseling Services
    NHPCO Bereavement Steering Committee
    Northstar Care Community
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Hospice Mailings Thirteen Month

    Posted 01-30-2024 10:29 AM

    Hello Burl,

    We send 4-page front-to-back letters along with our activities schedule.  We wrote and print them internally based on the needs in our community and on the time-frames after the losses.  Periodically we will pop in topic-based articles.  For example we are working inserts to use in May and June for those who have lost parents because our EMR allows us to generate mailing lists based on relationship type. Regarding cost effective measures, again we write and print everything in-house.  We also have stopped sending mailings to all of our bereaved if they have declined follow-up services.  For them we will send a one-time summary of services and instructions on how to reach us if they need support later on.  We also inform people in each letter how to come off of our mailing list.  And regarding the final letter, we no longer send pre-stamped envelopes for our survey but instead have moved our survey on-line and we provide a QR code in the final letter. 

    We do have a separate mailing that is just for those who are actively participating in our events.  They receive our activities schedule monthly instead of every few months with our standard mailer.

    Our hope is to transition to an e-newsletter for some people and we are waiting for some EMR changes for that to happen.



    ------------------------------
    Jennifer Simmons, LCSW
    Bereavement Coordinator
    St Francis Reflections Life Stage Care
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Hospice Mailings Thirteen Month

    Posted 02-13-2024 09:40 AM

    Hi Jennifer,

    I would love to know how you provide the on-line survey and how the response has been with it.

    Thank you,

    Diana



    ------------------------------
    Diana Moore
    Hospice Bereavement Coordinator
    Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice
    Barre, Vermont
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Hospice Mailings Thirteen Month

    Posted 01-30-2024 10:50 AM

    Hello Burl,

    We start by including a Bereavement Support Program 4-page pamphlet with the pronouncement packet. We follow up with a hand addressed Sympathy Card, 3-week, 3-month, 6-month, 9-month and 13-month letters that all include an educational insert. The educational inserts were personally chosen/created by the Bereavement Coordinator.  These letters are hand personalized by our Volunteers as Dear __________.  Mass mailing Support Group offering letters are sent for Spring and Fall sessions. A special holiday mass mailing is sent early in November.  I often get phone calls from the bereaved stating that the timing of the 3, 6, and 9 month mailings are good timing for their process.   We also email the letters and attachments as requested.  Because the email attachments are. pdf's, it came to my recent attention that they seemed impersonal because they were not hand addressed as the snail mail letters are.   I have recently created the following email body:

    Hello _______________,                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Attached are the _____________ Letter and Insert. Please note, the letter is electronically generated and not personalized which may seem impersonal. Unfortunately, it is part of the sending system of which I have no control. This email is personalized as is the support we offer to you.                                                                                Kindly confirm receipt of this email by simply replying "received".                                                                                                                                                                    Thank you,

    All mailings & attachments are created in house.  

    I hope this helps,



    ------------------------------
    Debbie Pausig, LMFT, FT-Fellow in Thankatology
    Hospice Bereavement Coordinator
    Home Care Plus Community Healthcare & Hospice-Yale New Haven Health
    Guilford, CT 06437
    Deborah.Kornitsky-Pausig@YNHH.ORG
    PH:203-453-7663
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


Related Content