patient Support

There are some ways to support a patient that are better done by friends and colleagues.  This allows the family to focus on helping the patient in ways no one else can.

• Offer transportation to the patient if they are being treated as an out-patient, as treatments can be tiring and patients often can't drive themselves. Sometimes family members can't take much time off work without losing salary to take a patient for treatments.
• Find out what kinds of gifts the hospital will allow the patient to receive and organize friends and co-workers to send small, appropriate gifts at intervals of time.
• Make a video with friends or co-workers, in which everyone records a special message for the patient; deliver it to the family or directly to the patient, if allowed.
• Offer to set up a - “patient up-date” - web site or through social media (Facebook/Twitter) phone tree so the family has to contact only one person, rather than several, to keep everyone informed of the patient's progress.
• If the patient is a child, speak with the family about how you can help garner support from the child’s school, especially in keeping the patient connected with friends.  Talk with the teachers about classmates writing cards, notes, or creating a classroom video to send to the patient while s/he is missing school.
• Talk with the patient about visiting, and based on the patient’s desires, organize friends, neighbors, and work colleagues to visit or call to keep the patient involved in his social circle.  ​