Krames StayWell Blog

December health awareness programs made easier with patient education

There are only a few National Health Observances in December: World AIDS Day (December 1), National Handwashing Awareness Week (December 4-10) and National Influenza Vaccination Week (December 4-10). Yet keeping track of awareness efforts can be challenging amid the blur of activity this time of year brings. Here’s a few starting points to help keep you on track.

Visit the website of your cause’s sponsoring organization to leverage information, ideas and resources that can help enhance your own efforts. For instance:

• The World AIDs Campaign website, http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/, features information supporting World AIDS day
• Henry the Hand Foundation, sponsor of National Handwashing Awareness Week, provides information on handwashing programs, contests and tips at http://www.henrythehand.com/
• The CDC provides a calendar of events, web tools, articles and more at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/NIVW/ in support of National Influenza Vaccination Week

The sponsoring organization for each health observance throughout the year can be found on the 2011 and 2012 National Health Observance calendars.  

Another helpful strategy is to look for patient education solutions that help support health observance initiatives, as in these examples from Krames.

• Information about AIDS and prevention make How to Prevent and Detect STDs, STDs: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Men’s Health FastGuides® and Women’s Health FastGuides® ideal for World AIDS Day
• For National Handwashing Awareness Week, I suggest Hand Washing and Cleansing DVD, part of the Wellness DVD Collection, to help motivate and teach proper handwashing technique
• Finally, Influenza Vaccination DVD, Facts About Influenza (Flu) and Total Health FastGuides can promote the importance of getting immunized as well as answer common questions during National Influenza Vaccination Week

For detailed information on the titles above and many more, view Krames’ complete product line at www.krames.com. Also, to help with your education efforts today, here’s a video on Hand Washing and Cleansing to check out!

 

These are just a few strategies to help keep you on track. What other planning tips would you add?