What SNF Social Workers Need From Home Care Agencies

Want to be the agency a SNF social worker calls first? Start by seeing the world through their eyes. We unpack the real pressures behind every discharge—insurance clocks, readmission metrics, complex families—and lay out a playbook that turns home care from a sales pitch into a safety net. Our focus: reduce risk, protect reputations, and make hard days lighter.

We break down the non-negotiables that matter most on the floor: lightning-fast responses, true 24-hour start-of-care capability, and weekend coverage that actually shows up. Then we get specific about scope so no one’s guessing—ADLs, transfers, dementia supervision, fall-risk protocols, live-in versus 24-hour care, and short-term transitional support. You’ll hear how to structure first-day-of-service home visits that validate the plan in the real environment, prevent early failures, and keep families from bouncing back angry.

Readmission prevention is where non-medical care changes the outcome. We map simple, repeatable habits—hydration and nutrition check-ins, medication reminders, appointment follow-through, mobility assistance, and change-of-condition reporting—that keep clients stable and facilities confident. We also tackle the two biggest trust breakers: staffing flakiness and fuzzy pricing. Learn how to present backup plans, field supervision, and retention stats, plus a clear pricing range rooted in assessment, not guesswork. And because March is National Social Work Month, we share practical, memorable ideas—coffee bars, hydration stations, gatekeeper treats, and social worker spotlights—that open doors and start real partnerships.

If you’re ready to stop selling and start safeguarding discharges, this conversation gives you the language, systems, and leave-behinds to become the reliable choice. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review to tell us which strategy you’ll implement first.

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Transcript

Warm-Up And Intros

SPEAKER_04 1:06

What is everybody doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Is it warming up at all?

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Oh, okay. Is it warming up anywhere where like in that warming up at all? No? No.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

It's a little warmer over here in sunny San Diego, but not in the snowflakes right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

84 in Arizona. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

It's sunny. It's sunny and a balmy 38 degrees in Connecticut. We got three inches overnight, and we're expecting another foot of snow next week. So oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Wow. Okay. Well, good times. Yeah. Sounds good. It does look like you have a nice blue sky though. So that's good.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

It's pretty out. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Oh wow. Yeah, you guys got hit. I'm going to be in your area soon.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

There's Rodney.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Is it recording, guys? Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Yes.

Why Social Worker Month Matters

SPEAKER_03 2:05

It is. Okay. All right. I didn't get the notice that it was recording when I logged in. All right. We're going to go and get started. I know there will be others, but we always do a quick introduction and stuff. So we can we can go ahead and get started. Um and we're we don't need to go deep with this. A lot of you know who we are, but I do see some new people on today. So we'll go ahead and just do a quick, quick um introductions. I'm Don Fiola. I've been with approved senior network for almost four years now. I do have a background in home care. I've been in sales, I've been operations manager for recruiting retention. It's hard to stay in one lane in home care. Um, I I love home care. I love what I do now, and I really like working with all of you. Um, so thank you for coming today, and we'll get started in just a little bit. Go ahead, Annette.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Okay, hi everybody. I'm Annette Ziggler. For those of you that don't know me, I have been with ASN for almost two years. I have over 20 years home care and senior marketing experience. Um, I teach the sales training classes here at ASN. I love what I do. I was I was out in the field, um, you know, pounding the pavement, getting referrals. I helped our agency grow from 1 million to 4 million. And, you know, if anybody's interested in hearing more about our sales training, I see a lot of our um members here today at the meeting. Uh, just let us know. We have a slide in here telling you a little bit about it later.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Okay, go ahead, Lisa. I'm Lisa Marcellet. I have been here for three years and I've worked in home care and marketing and done all the things and wore all the hats. And I I love being on this side to kind of help you guys through your journey through home care. And just thank you for letting me be a part of it.

Inside A SNF Social Worker’s Day

Managing Risk, Not Referrals

SPEAKER_03 3:45

I don't think Valerie is on. I don't see her. Um Valerie is the founder and co-owner of a free senior network, and she's an RN um by nature, and she does all of our online. She's an online guru. When I first started, I thought, is she AI? Because she's so fast with everything. Kind of like kids believe in Santa Claus. I was crazy. I have met her in person though. She's real. Um, anyway, she's fabulous, and uh, she does all of the online SEO website. She's great at all of that, and then the three of us are more the feet on the ground and helping with that side of it. So the housekeeping rules, please keep your lines muted unless you're speaking. Um, share stories, experience tips, ask any questions, make recommendations. Uh, did anybody light up the chat box yet? You can type in right there to talk, um, or you know, raise your hand or anything like that. The chat seems to work pretty well because that way we can get to the questions as they come in. Lisa just put a comment. Uh so tell us what you want to know too. You can put that in the chat as well. You know, something you'd like us to cover. Sometimes we run out of what do we want to tell them? What do we want to show them? What are where are they struggling? So let us know. We'd love to help. So today we are going to talk about what skilled nursing facility and rehab social workers really need from home care agencies. What do they really need? Because we know what we need. We want referrals, but what do they need? How do we become their go-to partner and build trust that lasts beyond a single referral? So March coming up is National Social Worker Month. This is a huge, huge month. The best referrals come from rehabs and um skilled nursing facility SNPs. And so the people who do those discharges are social workers most of the time. There are probably some case managers that do this as well, um, but most of them are social workers, the discharge planners in those buildings. And social worker month is March. It is the only time the whole entire year that we get to really celebrate them and have an excuse to get in front of them. So we thought it was important to talk about this now, um just before March hits, so you guys can be prepared. So it's a time to recognize them. They navigate some of the healthcare's most complex challenges daily. Recognition isn't enough. We genuinely need to understand their day-to-day, their challenges, all of those things to be able to be a good help to them and to be able to get them to trust us because we really know what they're going through every day. If you don't understand the pressure they go through, you can't really support them. So today isn't about becoming more visible to social workers, it's about becoming valuable to them in ways that matter. So before we discuss what they need from us, we must first understand what they're responsible for in the environment in which they work. So we want to become a trusted discharge partner, not just another vendor in their office. So today we're going to talk about understanding the SNF Rehab Social Workers' reality, what social workers actually need from you, and becoming a trusted discharge partner. Oops. Okay. So the day and the life of a SNF social worker, their reality. Before you walk into their office, picture what their morning actually looks like. Understanding this context changes everything about how you're going to approach them. They are dealing with 10 to 20 active discharges. Not all of them. Some are dealing with more and some are dealing with less. It depends on how big their building is. It also depends. Are they in a skilled nursing facility that has short-term and long-term? Are they straight rehab where everybody is going to go home? So 10 to 20 active discharges, that's a lot if you think about all of it. All of their family members that are involved, the diagnosis that they have, what they're going to need when they discharge, their personality. You know, there's so much involved in every discharge. So managing multiple patients simultaneously, and all of them have unique needs, family dynamics, and timelines. In addition to that, they're dealing with family conflicts and emotions. Adult children don't always agree, right? I mean, I'm sure you've sat in a living room where one of them wants some place and the other one wants them to stay home, and the other one, you know, oh, they should have moved over to Aunt where Aunt Jeanie lives. Like there's don't always get along. And so there's family conflicts too. And usually the senior, the senior may not get along with the adult children either. So there's a lot going on. So they have to manage those expectations and calm fears about what's going to happen when this client goes home, the patient goes home. They're also dealing with insurance deadlines and readmission pressure. Remember, their readmission rate needs to come down. I don't know anyone who's, you know, higher up, say your readmission rate's great. They need it to come down. They want it to come down. So they're racing against coverage limits while knowing readmissions reflect poorly on the facility and their work. So basically that means we don't want this person to readmit. The discharge needs to be solid. But insurance is saying they're out. They're out now, they're out of days, they're going home tomorrow. And so they have to make sure they get them out of here, but they also need to make sure it's a safe discharge so this person doesn't readmit. So that's a real tough juggling act right there. And then documentation and compliance. They're important, they're in charge of the paperwork that's involved, regulatory standards, last-minute discharge changes, all of that. They're also responsible for all of that. So critical insight is social workers are managing risk, not referrals. Think about that for just a second. They're managing the risk. This person is going home and they need to be able to go home and be safe and not come back. We don't want them to come back. They can't readmit. So when you walk in as a home care rep, you are entering a high pressure environment where one failed discharge can impact patient safety, family satisfaction, and the facility metric. So it's it's there's a lot more going on than what you see right there, the face value of it all. So the social workers' core duties in a sniffer rehab are far more than just discharge planners. They wear multiple hats throughout each day. So understanding all of these roles will help you. They're a patient advocate, they're ensuring the patient's rights and preferences and best interests are involved in all of the decision making. They're the family mediator. Again, they're navigating difficult conversations and finding common ground among family members. They're the risk manager, they're identifying potential problems before they happen and mitigating discharge failures. They're the emotional support system, providing compassion during transitions that are often frightening for patients and families. They're the care coordinator, they're orchestrating multiple services, providers, and timelines into a cohesive discharge plan. And they're the compliance protector. And again, that's the regulatory standards and keeping the facility in good standing. So this is a lot going on. And in the meantime, they have five, 10 reps coming in every day, wanting to tell them about their home care services. So that kind of helps you understand. Well, why don't they talk to me? Why can't I get back there? Why is the gatekeeper so like being a bulldog and not letting anybody in? And then add to that the turnover of the marketers in this industry, how high that is. If they come out and spend 15, 20 minutes with you, and then you move on the next day somewhere else, you're gone. That was 15 to 20 minutes. I'm never going to get back. And so just understanding how all of this works and plays and is all in motion when you walk in that building is really important. So what they really need from a non-medical home care agency is they need specific, reliable support that protects their discharges and makes their complex job easier. That's what they need. So speed and reliability is really important. 24 hour start of care capability. So if they call you, that you can start in 24 hours. Weekend coverage without delays. Same day response to inquiries. This shocked me. Annette and I interviewed a bunch of social workers across the country, and their biggest complaint about home care reps was that they never respond. They try to send them a discharge, a patient, a referral, and they never get a response. It's crickets. And so then they don't know what to do. Did they get my referral? Are they working on it? Do I need to give it to somebody else? And in the meantime, the clock is ticking, right? Insurance is like they're out in three days. Doctors, they're out in three days. And they sent the referral to the home care agency, but they have heard nothing. So they don't know if they give it to somebody else or if the person's working on it or not. That's shocked me. So just keep that in mind. That's something that they're thinking about. Zero stacking failures is really important too. And if you say yes, you can take it, you better mean yes, because overpromising is going to destroy trust faster than anything else. So if you say you can do it, and this could be hard because you're not the scheduler, you're not the one that's going to make it happen most of the time. But it's usually a good idea to run it by them before you say yes and make sure, or at least know that you have backup caregivers, lead caregivers, something else going on. Um, a clear scope of services. Social workers need specifics, not vague marketing language. They must know exactly what you provide. So the ADLs, the transfers, dementia supervision and capabilities, fall risk monitoring protocols, 24-hour or live-in care. Those are different things. I know you guys know that. The public doesn't typically know that, but they're different. And then short-term transitional care. If you have a minimum, that was another thing, right, Annette, that kept coming up. They wanted to know, do you have a minimum?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah.

What They Need From Home Care

Speed, Reliability, And Clear Scope

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah, it was an important one too. Because if you do and this person can't do more or won't do more, they need to know that as well. Um, and I would say too, I know it's kind of a gray area. It's okay to tell the social worker, thank you for the referral. I'm gonna just check in with my team really quick. You know, check in with your team and say, yep, we can take it, right? If you need to do that, that's okay. Don't take forever. And always respond. I think sometimes people leave to go get the answer and they forget to say, I got this. I'm working on this. You know, they know they're working on it, but they didn't tell the person on the other side of the phone or the email or whatever it is that they're working on it. So always be sure to communicate. Safeguarding discharges and building trust. So on the bottom here, saying that we safeguard your discharge is a powerful positioning statement that social workers need to hear. Because that's what they're worried again. Remember, they're they're mitigating risk. That's what this is for them. Who, which home care agency is the least risky for me to give my senior to? Which one's gonna provide the best service, follow through, and actually do what they say they're gonna do? That's that's really what it's about for them. So, readmission prevention support, even as a non-medical agency, you play a crucial role in preventing hospital readmissions. Your caregiver's eyes and ears in the home and that presence man matters enormously. And having that feedback, when the caregiver comes in and says, I'm afraid to leave her. I know, you know, I'm supposed to, it's six o'clock at night and I'm supposed to leave her, but I don't know how she's gonna get through the night without care. I don't know how that's gonna happen. We need to listen to that. When a caregiver says that, we, you know, sometimes it's like, I've got a million things going on. Okay, well, she'll be okay. I'll call her daughter. It's okay. We really need to take the things the caregivers say to us and react to that. And the caregivers need to know they're being heard because they'll quit talking if they're not being heard, or they'll quit, or they'll go work somewhere where they are going to listen to them. Always report changes to the family, subtle declines in condition, behavior shifts, or new concerns that need medical attention, medication reminders, ensuring patients take prespread medications on schedule. Encourage follow-ups, helping patients keep their post-discharge medical appointments is really important to keep readmissions from happening. Monitor their hydration and their nutrition, watch for signs of dehydration or poor nutrition that often lead to readmission, and fall risk prevention presence, being there to assist with mobility and reducing fall risk. All of these things are going to help prevent readmission. And all of these things can be on your handout. All of these things can be things that you talk about with your social workers. These, this is again, it's lit, it's mitigating risk. All of this is mitigating that risk of readmission. They also don't want to hear back from the adult child that the home care agency you sent me to or they're terrible. They're terrible. They didn't show up, they didn't call. My mom was in the hospital, the pneumonia, no one called me for three days. I mean, all kinds of things can happen. That information is going to get back to the social worker and it makes them look bad. Our job is to make their job easier and make them look good. Communication and professionalism. If the family complains, it lands back on the social worker. Your communication practices directly impact their direct their reputation. So update the family directly. Don't make the social worker be the middleman for routine updates. Notify if care is it's refused. If you go to do the assessment and this, they're like, no, we're not, we don't want this, we're not doing this. The social worker probably thinks you went in there and signed them up. She thinks check home care is done. It's done. If you, if it they didn't sign, you need to go back and tell the social worker. Even if they did sign, whatever happened with them, you come back to the social worker and you report it. Remember, we're signing these clients up in the SNP, in the rehab. We're not waiting for them to get home. Care should be in place before they discharge. The only way to do that is to sign them up while they're in the SNP, the rehab. You still need to go out to the home, though. That first day of service, because nobody's laid ice on the house, right? First day of service, somebody from the office, marketer, whoever it is, goes there, meets the caregiver with the client first day of service. Because if you they walk into that house and there's 15 cats running around and cat boxes everywhere, or if there is a horrible hoarding position situation going on, that should not be up to the caregiver to resolve. That's not their job. So, yes, you're going to sign them up in the SNF rehab, but somebody from an admin person is also going to go to the home first day of service to be sure that it's safe for the caregiver. It's safe for the client. Every we can actually do a shower. The wheelchair fits through the bathroom doors. Whatever it is, somebody needs to go in and confirm that everything is going to be okay. Because if you don't, the job could blow because of the the caregiver is not going to take care of all that. And they shouldn't be expected to. Report patient decline, communicate changes in condition promptly. Never send families back angry. Handle issues internally first, then communicate solutions. So always listen to the family and have solutions in mind. And if you can't do it right there on the phone, right, you know, let me get with my team and I'll get right back with you. There's nothing wrong with saying that. Sometimes they just need to be heard. The family just needs to be heard. And then they're good. Staffing stability and transparent pricing. This is another piece of the social workers. They worry the caregiver is not going to show up. What is your backup plan? Do you have a backup plan? If a caregiver no shows, which what is your plan? You need to have a plan. And the fact that you have a plan is going to mean a lot to the social workers. You've thought this through. They can trust sending a senior home with your agency because you have a backup plan. Even that first day of service, knowing an admin person is going to meet the caregiver and the client at the house, that's a great plan. And so them knowing that and hearing that, again, they're mitigating risks. They don't want to hear from the family. We're home, there's no caregiver, there's no company, there's nobody here. That's not something they want to hear. So you're building trust with them. So the more safety nets you have in place and the more you're sharing with them about that, that's keeping readmissions from happening, it's keeping the families happy. That is going to build that trust for them. And then they'll feel comfortable referring to you. So two areas where home care agencies lose trust before they even start is staffing and pricing clarity. Address these proactively to stand out from your competitors. So staffing stability and backup plans. What happens if the caregiver calls up? Who supervises your caregivers in the field? How fast can you replace staff if needed? And what is your caregiver retention rate? These are all really important things that you can bring up in conversation with them. And they may not be things they ask you, but if you're telling them all of the things that you guys have, all the safety nets you've put in place, they're going to trust you. And pricing, the transparency about costs. So for me with the social workers, I've never really left my pricing with them. It's not on the brochure. I do with my flat rate discharge package. That's really the only pricing I've ever shared. Now, some of them want to know. And so I will tell them a range. I'll give them a range. I don't usually leave it for them. And that, you know, it's really up to you on how you want to handle it. I rather the social worker not talk to them about money at all. I just prefer they don't. You can't say that to a social worker. Don't take that the wrong way. They don't like to have the money talk. Most social workers don't want to talk to them about what it's going to cost. That's not who they are. They're not business people. They don't want to get into that. But some of them will ask you, well, what do you charge? And so then you can give them a range. And I've had many social workers write the range right on my brochure. I've also had them be frustrated with me because the prices aren't on my brochure. And to that, I say, I want to give them the best price I can. And I really don't have a price for them until I sit down with them. And so I don't want to put a price in print anywhere and then sit down with them and or they won't meet with me because it's too expensive. And maybe it wouldn't be if I met with them. And I also don't want to meet with them and then say, oh, well, I was told 30. Why are you charging me 32? Because it's based on the care that's needed. How involved is it? And the family can say all day long. Oh, she stands up by herself. She can shower herself. Everything's great. And then you walk in that home, and that person is nothing like what the family member said to you. It can also go the other way. My mom can't do anything for herself. This is full hands-on care. And you get in there, and this woman's walking around, she's alert, she's oriented, picking things up, she's totally fine. So you can't trust the family to give you, and it's just they just don't see it. I don't think they're lying or trying to be, you know, hide anything. They just don't see it for what it is sometimes. So with the pricing, you can tell your social workers this is our range. You can tell them why you don't put it on the grocery. I just explained that to you. And that, you know, if you're not comfortable having the money talk with the family, I'm happy to sit down and just talk about home care in general with them. If you don't want to have the home care talk, I can come in and just tell them how home care works and what they can expect to pay and how the hours work. And that we can start with big hours and taper down as they get better. And so if, you know, that's the kind of conversation. And some of my social workers loved that I would do that. And I would tell them, you're not really referring to me, and that's fine. I'm happy to talk about home care all day long. They don't have to be a client, they don't have to turn into a client. I'm just happy to do that. So if you need a home care expert to come in and meet with your patients and explain what home care is and how it works, I'm happy to do that. I can tell you guys most of the time it turned into a job. So, you know, it was it just they needed that conversation. And once they got to know me and understood how it works, and it's not for the rest of your life, you're not signing, you know, your life away. Most of them would sign up as clients. So that's kind of how I handled it. Annette and Lisa, do you guys have anything to add to that?

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Um, I well, regarding the pricing, 100%. Um, you don't some, you know, seniors or whoever any of the when you talk pricing, they, you know, they hear$35,$40 an hour. Oh, I can't afford that. I never really liked them telling their patients what our fees were because you it's just so much better for you know, you as the home care um agency owner, a marketer, whoever's doing the assessment, talk to that person and explain your services, and then you tell them the pricing because they can just get turned away. So I used to shy away from the social workers giving them the pricing, having them share the pricing. Um, so I totally agree with that. If you can, you know, not give the pricing prior, I think it's very helpful.

unknown 24:41

Lisa.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Lisa, you feel so I I I agree. I agree. If we talk about pricing, then it becomes all about pricing. And so try to keep it away from there. It's about the care, it's about you as the provider. We're going to provide this service and just keep it at that. Uh, yeah, the pricing should definitely be our conversation. There are those people who ask. Um, and even if you give them a range, I I don't think that anyone ever like maybe a few times they gave the daughter or someone the range that I gave, but I think it was someone who I already was I worked with really closely, like referral partners that I was already working with. So it was okay. We kind of talked about it a little more than normal, but um, yeah, try to stick, stay away from that and just talk about the care.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

I was gonna say, I just want to add too, I used to find a lot of social workers would think that the patient didn't have the money because you know, many times they don't tell the truth when they're filling out the financial form going into the rehab because they don't want people to know how much money they have. So the social worker would be like they don't have money. Then when I went and met with them, I found out they had the money and they could really afford it. So sometimes a social worker doesn't really know if this person can afford services or not. You know, sometimes they do if they're on Medicaid. Um, Rot or Radonna is asking, they always ask about pricing. Then I would give a range. I mean, yeah, I would give a range too.

Preventing Readmissions At Home

SPEAKER_03 26:05

And again, I wouldn't put it on my marketing collateral. I mean, you can do what you want. I just I don't like it on the marketing collateral because I mean they could have a brochure from 10 years ago, right? That that we has just been floating around or at the bottom of somebody's desk drawer, and now they bring it out and I'm supposed to, you know, I'm paying the caregiver that amount now, right? That's what the caregivers getting paid. I can't honor that, and that's just gonna make everybody mad. So um it it's a it's a difficult, it can be a difficult thing when I had people, and and I would say it's not that I don't want to tell you pricing, here's the pricing. I have no problem. Here you go, here's the range. I have no problem giving the pricing. It's just it's going to change based on their needs. And until I sit with them and do the assessment, and you're welcome to join me on the assessment. I'd love to have a social worker sit with me during the assessment. The ones that have were shocked at how detailed it was. They were shocked that we asked the things that we asked and we got into the ADLs and all, because they're like, boy, you're non-medical. That you did that like a nurse. And I thought, well, I don't know. I'm a I'm not a nurse. And it wasn't to me, it didn't seem like it was that thorough. But there were things we have to ask that I don't think they realized. So when they saw my assessment, I mean they became referral partners. Like they started referring a lot more often because they they were surprised at how thorough it was. So what does we have? Oh, we have um, I asked the social worker if I can call the family to discuss everything. The social work can't possibly know all that we could do. That's true. That's very true. Very true, and it's great to be able to do that. Someone else said, Brian says we are on par with everyone, especially if the quality we offer. If they press, I give them a range too. Good, good, good. We have created a monthly cost of care compare sheet. It says average cost of home care times average 20 hours months versus assisted living memory. Yes, it's much cheaper than assisted living memory care. That's a really smart that cost comparison. I like that, Carla. Definitely. Okay, so if you can keep the social worker from getting into the pricing, that's good. And like Annette said, they always think the seniors can't afford it. And for one, they don't know what they make. And seniors are always they grew up in the depression. They always are gonna say they don't have any money. And the other thing, the social workers they might see that the seniors bring in in three grand a month, maybe. I don't know. Let's just have that random number. The social workers thinking about a house payment and a car payment and children and all the costs of all of that. Most seniors don't have those expenses. So, you know, 3,000 a month could go a long way in home care if you don't have any of those other expenses. So it's just better. Right. And I think offering to just if you have anyone who needs to understand what home care is, I'm your gal. Just call me, I'll come talk to them. Doesn't have to be an assessment, I'll just come talk to them and educate them about home care. And that's a great way to be there for them. So they don't they don't have time to go through that conversation. You know more about home care than the social worker. You always will, and it gets your foot in the door. And then if they decide to do home care, guess who they're gonna call? We'll be here.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Yeah, it becomes more of an educational versus a give me a referral.

Communication That Protects Reputations

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Exactly. Exactly. And they like to lean into that. I mean, how nice would it be? I would love to give a little piece of my job to somebody. Say, you're right, so I don't have to do this part anymore. And that's basically what you're doing. If there's anyone who's thinking about home care, you're gonna come in and talk to them. You're taking a piece of the social worker's job away and buying them some time to get something else done. So, why don't social workers trust home care reps yet? Beyond, let's be honest about skeptics, why the skepticism exists, understanding these common complaints helps you differentiate your agency and rebuild trust in an industry that has earned its share of doubt. So the trust gap. Social workers have been burned before from overpromises, poor care, family complaints, you lose their trust. That's all it takes. And then the common complaints, we overpromise capabilities, those communication break breakdowns, inadequate caregiver training, sending staff who isn't prepared, staffing failures, caregivers not showing up. That's why the backup plan is so important. And then it's solving it or selling instead of solving. So leading with sales pitches rather than understanding the social workers' actual challenges and patient needs. So if you understand all of the things we've talked up to this point and you're able to speak to those things in front of them, that you know, that they're doing all of those things, um, that helps them see that you're taking an interest in what their challenges are. And if you're taking an interest in what their challenges are and trying to support them and not sell, they appreciate that. If you're trying to educate their patients and not sell, they appreciate that. That's how you earn their trust. So to become the agency they rely on, they don't need another vendor. They need a partner who's going to reduce risk, protect their reputation, and makes their impossible job a little bit easier. So understand their pressure, be fast and reliable, be specific about your services, communicate clearly, always get back to them, never overpromise and safeguard their discharge. So your trust isn't built through sales visits or glossy brochures. Trust is built by showing up, following through, handling issues fast, owning mistakes, and making the social worker look good to their administrator and families. Become their the agency they call first because you've proven you won't let them down. Always own up to your mistakes. I had um bedside sitting. I had a caregiver doing 12-hour bedside sitting in a skilled nursing facility. And it's really important if you decide to do this, that you send your very best because your referral source is watching your caregiver. Everybody in the building is watching your caregiver to make this is this is your representation. So make sure they're good. Always make sure that you figure out the breaks. Do they sign in? If this is bedside sitting, there's a good chance that this patient can't be left alone. So they have to tell somebody, I'm going to go out for a minute and take a break so somebody else can watch them. Either way, I came in to the SNF to just do my regular marketing. I had forgotten there was an overnight the night before. I think it was like Monday morning too. And I was like, Okay, well, thank you for letting me know. I'm gonna look into this. And she goes, Well, no, she was asleep. I said, Oh no, I trust you. I believe that she was asleep. I'm gonna go back to the office and just investigate, let them know and investigate this. So it's okay that there's mistakes. Own them. I've also had a um a social worker get into an argument with my staffing coordinator. And, you know, I stood talk for the staffing coordinator. I go, that doesn't sound like her, but I am definitely gonna look into this. I'm so sorry this happened. And it won't happen again. And I always would say, we're not perfect, we're gonna make mistakes, we're dealing with human beings, we're not perfect, but we will fix, we will correct, we will react, we will take care of whatever has gone wrong. And so it's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to say, I'm gonna go look for the answer for you. That's all of that's okay, but own your mistakes. Don't, you know, I they would never do that, or that didn't happen, or own it because it's gonna happen. You're in home care. I mean, you're dealing with seniors who are human and caregivers who are human. And caregivers, they're great, they're wonderful. We can't business without them, but they tend to be a lot more loosey-goosey than seniors are. And we're taking these two collectives of people and putting them in a room together. Seniors were never late, always on time, dressed professionally, and the caregivers are not those people, and that's okay. But bringing them together, there are going to be some problems from time to time. And that's okay. Just own up to them and promise to fix anytime there's a problem, fix it. The best referral relationship you can have is someone who's going to say, This happened, instead of just ghosting you. Because a lot of them, if they don't have a good relationship with you and your caregivers slept on an overnight, they just never refer to you again and they don't tell you why. It just ends and you have no idea why. So doing all understanding what we've talked about so far today, understanding their role and how it works and how you can make their job easier, and building a really strong foundation with them, they will come to you and tell you something happened because they trust you and you can bounce back from that and they'll continue to refer. So that's that's why all of this matters too, is you want lots of ongoing referrals and a strong relationship, not a one and done referral. So we are gonna talk next about how we can appreciate them for social worker month. What can we do? Um, easy drop-off appreciation ideas. Now it's a really good time to get in front of the social workers, social worker month in March. So they will come out if you're bringing goodies and you're recognizing them. I have something for them for social worker month. Remember though, that gatekeeper, they need something too. They need you to know their name, they need eye contact, and you should bring them a little treat too. If you're bringing a treat to the social workers, bring them a little something too. It'll go a long way. They're very important. And all day long, family members of the patients in the building just walk by without making eye contact. They don't feel important. And so make them feel important. Bring them a little treat too. But if you bring something and say, I want, I have something for them for social worker month, do they have just a few minutes to come out? More than likely they're going to. They love social worker month as much as we do because we get to get in front of them. So these are some ideas: cough and pastries, afternoon energy snack bar, hydration station with infused water. You can drop off some sweets, some cookie trays, cupcakes with social work toppers on top, individually wrapped treats with thank you tags, thanks for the difference you make every day. Grabbing those snacks, you can create some little baskets or something for them to keep on their desk with protein bars, trail mixed fruit, bottled water, stress ball pens. Um, Lisa made this. I think this is really cute if you wanted to do something like this where you're bringing in. I know Starbucks sells those big boxes of coffee. That's always like a little coffee bar and creamer, and um, you can bring in, you know, with cups and that kind of thing. Lisa, do you want to get into this a little bit? Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Um I mean, yes, definitely. Throwing something like that either at their location or even, you know, sometimes they can even get out and come to your office. I've done something like that at our office before, too. But yeah, just getting in and making sure that they know that you appreciate them. Of course, get some permission first, but coming in and like you said, Starbucks or any coffee place will give you the big thing of coffee. Um, and you can bring in any snacks, any treats. Hydration station is really good because they're walking around, running around all day, probably not hydrating, kind of like all of you out in the field as well. So that's a really good thing to have too, and just maybe set up for like an hour, a couple hours, but really, really do it up for this month because, like Don said, it's the only month dedicated to social workers, and um, it's really your time to shine and get in front of them and just let them know how much you love them, and they, you know, they'll appreciate that for sure.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

And I'm so glad it's a month and not a day. Yeah. It's better because those days are hard when it's just a day, it's so or even a week, it's difficult. You guys have a whole month, and March is a long month, too. It's it's good. Yeah, yeah. Okay, the other ideas we had is you can highlight one social worker per week in March. Each week in March, highlight one social worker from a different building. So get their name and credentials, their year and social work, what inspired them to become a social worker, what they love most about working in a skill nursing facility or rehab, a favorite success story, a short quote. You can post it on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, on your website, make printed spotlight sheets, and drop off at the sniff you're highlighting. This is a really, I don't know where this came from. Was this you and that? I think it's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Yeah, this is really cute, actually. It is.

Staffing Stability And Pricing Clarity

SPEAKER_03 38:34

It's a really, really good idea. It's a great way for them to feel really special and that you're highlighting one a week is awesome too. I think that's great. Oh, Lisa, we are up. Does anybody have any questions before we go into the leave behinds? Do we want to get the yeses for people who that's what I was gonna say?

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Who wants to win April Leave Behinds?

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Somebody wants to win the April Leaf Behinds. We will put your logo, your colors, your contact information on all of the April Leave Behinds. Lisa's gonna go through them here in a minute. You have to promise, though, that you're going to send us pictures of what you did with them. Um, you don't have to put people in there, but you can delivering them, whatever it is you're doing. So just type the word yes in the chat to let us know that you would like to. Oh, there's a lot of people already ahead of me. Look at all the yeses. Yeah, yeah, we're already in here. All right. So we're taking down and we'll draw a name afterwards and let you know if you if you want.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Nice, nice, nice. That's awesome. All right, okay, Lisa, you're ready, you're up. I mean, I'm writing them all down. I know we're gonna go for you, Lisa. But I got it.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

I think we both do. Yeah, that's got it for you. All right, there we go. Social worker month.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Here we go. Yeah, so getting into it. So here we go. National Social Work Month. So I actually stole this from their theme, and I do that every single year. So uplift, defend, transform. That is their theme. And so the idea is to kind of play on that. But from hospital to home, you change what's possible. Um, uplift patients, families, and outcomes, defend dignity, access, and patient care, and transform lives. So thank you for trusting us to get your patients home safely and give us a call. And so you can take this out here um again all month. I really encourage you guys to take advantage of the month.

SPEAKER_03 40:25

And for those of you, oh sorry, for those of you that are new, down here on the bottom, we have the Canva link and the Google link. If you want to change the colors and the design a little bit, you can go to the Canva link. And if you want to just change the contact information and logo, you go to the Google link and you can do that. So this and there's six to a page. I think we've got lots of newbies today, Lisa. That's why I'm sorry to interrupt.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

No, no, you're fine. Do you um well if you click on the Google, the Google Docs are more for if you just want kind of a really quick way to get a whole bunch of them and be able to print out and cut and take them out. But what you do is you go to file, make a copy, and that copy is going to be yours to save as you name it whatever you want to and to save. And then when you go into the document itself to change the logo, um, all you have to do is change the logo to yours and the contact information to yours. Um, and it's just an easy right-click on. Um, sorry, I didn't mean I'm like putting you on the spot here. Right click on the logo and you can I am not able to click Lisa.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

Something's weird. Oh, there we go. It does take a little while. So it takes a little while. Replace image and replace the image or logo.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Yep. And then if it doesn't fit inside the space, um, there's a way to get it to fit too, to like make it perfect. And I could I could show someone sometime. If if you ever have a question.

SPEAKER_03 41:58

You can double-click on this, and when it turns black like that, say part of this is up here, you can stretch this, and then it'll it'll bring that piece in. And so um, if you notice that whoops, that part of your logo is not in there, that's why. So you just go in and crop it. So it's pretty easy to do. And then to change the contact information, you just double-click in here and change it, and then hit save and close, and you're done. So Google is a really quick way to edit these. Canvas a little bit longer, and you need to really know what you're doing in Canva, but not impossible.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Yeah, and these somebody just asked a question. These um when the replay is out, usually it comes out within a day or so. The PDFs will also be uploaded um along with the video replay, and this is that you'll be able to get the links.

SPEAKER_03 42:50

Right. So this PDF, all of these will be hyperlinked in the PDF as well. So you can just click on them right in the PDF.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

And it'll send out to you, Brian.

SPEAKER_03 42:58

And then whenever you do a leave behind, Lisa tries to find something that's gonna pair with it. So you poke a hole in this and attach it to something, or put put the things that she's gonna show you and put them in a bag and attach this to the bag. So that's what she's gonna show you next.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Or you can even get those little sticky, little sticky circles and put them on anything. But so here's what we have for the March to leave behind for social workers' month. Um, so these mesh file bags are large, so they're they're pretty big. You can fit paperwork inside them. Um, the ones that I have the link to. But if you if you go to Amazon, you can find other sizes as well. Um, but they're really, really cool. I bought some and um I still use them to this day. I use them for like packing or bathing suits, paperwork, things like that. But social workers love them. And these stickers, social workers really, really, really love. Um, they will slap those on everything from their phone to their laptop to their uh water bottles. So um, these are just a couple different ideas. Um, and all you have to do is click on at the bottom left where that little store is, and this will load to uh March's Leave Behind. So we have a little store uh that we went ahead and just when we're researching to make sure that things are affordable and you know they go with they go with what you what you're doing. We just want you to have like a one-stop shop. So all you have to do is click on the uh click on the photo or the image and it go it'll go straight to Amazon so that you don't have to research or go you know look around and all that.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

So and when you're make sure make sure you're clicking the top of the store. That's where the link is is held so when you get the slides.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Okay. And I I personally use those stickers and the social workers were fighting over them. So if you want to be popular um they love these stickers they just love them.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Yep they'll put them on their hydro class I bet right and all yeah computers and they just everything that's great.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Yeah definitely oops oops okay I think we have the sales training go ahead go go ahead um you can do that. And then Lisa will finish with the rest of the leave behinds. Oops throw the slide or something it just it was not there.

SPEAKER_03 45:10

That's what I'm it's well there we go.

Building Trust And Owning Mistakes

SPEAKER_02 45:13

Oh it went to sales training okay okay I don't know that was a strange all right yeah I'm busy who's driving this thing so Kristen I think she's on actually I think I saw her on earlier but she shared this um for assisting hands she used the uh February she did a little like spin off but I love the if you look at the leave behind there she did the little conversation heart leave behind I love the I love what she put them in super cute um but she took those out and uh was out and about out in the field. So thank you for sending that um we still have time for for cold and flu right um it's still a little chilly outside so until until about the end of March I think right but um you can use this here we want to talk to folks about what we do in home care not just kind of like what Don was talking about earlier with the social worker. Yeah they know what home care is but we really have to give them the details of every little thing that we can do. So having someone in in place in the home helps support hygiene and infection control, right? Reduces exposure to germs by having someone in the house versus you know the client having to go outside for during a time and then strengthens overall wellness and immunity. So basically routing someone to the home will help keep them you know say no to cold and flu season really. And so I had paired I kind of was thinking like a wellness basket or something like that originally but this you can put this in a little bag and all these little things are really cute and you can add different things too um but I was thinking hand sanitizer tea uh honey and little Kleenexes. I'm sure you can come up with a a million other things but these are really really will work and I think people love these excuse me. So another one in a pinch pinch protection this is your pinch protection you're in luck we will get your last minute discharges home safe today. Happy St. Patrick's Day so for all your home care needs call or text now and so what we have paired with this one super easy just get a whole bunch of these little necklaces and you know attach the pinch protection to there. So if you cut a little slit in the top and the bottom you can kind of uh feed that necklace through and give that out as a little leave behind it it's very memorable. People always love pinch protection um and so I think this one is a is a great success for sure and I hope you stand out. This is National Nutrition Month so we're again we're talking to social workers or whoever we're going out to see but social workers mainly because you know SNF is really the place to go um for you that's your number one um but we want to let them know that yes we do meal prep we care about nutrition we can help with any of that type of stuff any special diets any special needs and so you have to speak on that you gotta you got to talk about it if you want people to know about it. So um this the message here is our caregivers help with meal planning preparation and encourage seniors to maintain healthy eating habits at home. All right and then paired it with this I just thought these are really cute um something that the social workers can use or regift. It's a little you know big big spoon I guess big wind spoon with uh a towel and fake eucalyptus but hey it's still pretty this it's a very unique and something very different.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

They're not going to get anything else like this really like this.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

Definitely definitely okay April Stress Awareness Month so this is a full page flyer um that is going to get you face to face in front of that social worker, director of nursing manager director whoever you're going out to see right um kind of uh across the board. And so the idea is to take this flyer out to get in front of your referral source and talk with them about how stress affects seniors and the simple ways that home care can help reduce stress. We have it listed here in the I keep thinking that I'm sharing so I'm moving my mouse um have have the home care provides what here and it's all listed kind of like hydration goals and activity recommendations, mobility assistance and all of that. And then as a stress reliever um leave some of these brain games behind uh you know this these brain games of course you want to make sure that you slap one of your stickers with your contact information on there all over the place. I put it on front back and maybe inside somewhere too but you know make sure that you're talking about the benefits of home care and the benefits of these brain games I mean they really can help um promote relaxation. It helps to focus sometimes when seniors are thinking of so many different things especially if there's like memory issues there's just so many things going on in their head and if they can just have a quiet focus um it's so much better for them really and will improve the mood for sure. So you can leave um a couple of these behind and you just ask if it's okay you know and get and get to know that social worker and get talking to them. And then of course you want to leave some of these behind too um the actual leave behind with the books.

SPEAKER_03 50:31

That's great. And we have a few questions um so the Canva link people are asking about the Canva link and the Google links again you're gonna get the slides and when you get a PDF of the slide these links will be hyperlinked in the PDF. So when we send out the replay the links are in the PDF slides and so you can click on it there. So that's where you're gonna get those for the Amazon links for the sticker because someone's asking about the stickers you click the top of the store here and it'll take you to our store which is really links to Amazon just so everything's in one place and easy for you guys that's where you're gonna find the stickers and again that will be in the slides as well. Which places would be good to pass out the way uh no no to flu flyer anywhere you can pass everywhere any anywhere and everywhere everybody will love that flyer so you can you can take that anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

Okay I think that's all the questions sorry about that Lisa okay yeah that's okay the idea is just giving the idea is that you're giving people information but you also have your contact information there so you're the expert on on that subject and so that the they're going to give you a call that's the idea.

SPEAKER_03 51:43

And I think when you bring in what a great idea Lisa when you bring in a bunch of these books like this they're gonna come out and see you because you're you're bringing something to their community their facility that that their seniors are going to really enjoy and use. It's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03 52:01

I think you helped with the idea actually no surprise I think we were brainstorming were we brainstorming I can't remember so here's one for April showers.

Social Worker Month Leave-Behind Ideas

SPEAKER_02 52:12

When care needs start pouring in we help families weather the storm um so my my head went to my weather app actually I was like oh that that'd be kind of a cool leave behind something kind of familiar for people to look at so the forecast is 100% chance of compassionate home care. Uh don't wait for the storm to pass. Call or text Valerie today. We always use Valerie's name um but this is I just really liked it. I thought that it was it was cute it has a great message um you know don't wait for the storm to pass will help families weather the storm I really love this one love love love this one especially with April showers they're coming yeah and then oh to pair it with this yep so we're weathering the storm so we need mini flashlight just in case the lights go out or there's no electricity so these are really and and social workers love these I had one of these forever and I I loved it and it worked really well.

SPEAKER_03 53:07

So um it's just a quick click the batteries come already inside so um you know just take this and you can take a couple of other tchis that you have on on in your uh trunk and you know fill up a little bag or something and you could certainly put a sticker logo on here that came from your company on the flashlight not a bad bad thing. Looks like we had another question. I just lost it. Where did my chat go? What about the hospital social workers? So there are some social workers in the hospitals you can absolutely celebrate social worker month. I will say be careful a lot of the people that discharge patients in a hospital are case managers and they're nurses. And I've I've tried to celebrate social worker month with them and they were very clear with me I am a nurse. So um just keep that in mind. Some of them in the hospitals are social workers but most of the discharge planners in a hospital tend to be case managers. Not all hospitals what do you guys say and that Lisa what did you run into that's been my experience anyway.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

Yeah I mean with yes exactly what you're saying but also social workers from the hospital too I mean if you can get in there first of all they are referring more to home health usually they don't give a lot of I didn't get a lot of home care referrals and you know the hospitals here where I am they're hard to get into so yeah um they but they usually have a social work office so you can drop something off at the social worker office too that they can pass out to all their social workers. I used to do that often I did that all the time to the social worker office.

SPEAKER_03 54:37

There's usually a social worker secretary secretary yep you know like happy social worker month and a big thing or something for the whole group yeah and some of your brochures that's a good idea. Yep okay Lisa are there more there is more keep going yeah uh April 4th pictures thank you everyone have a great rest of your day bye bye