Comfort Keepers^® will have a fresh digital face with the new website launch on April 4! The Comfort Keepers web presence will be cleaner, brighter, more modern, and designed to improve visibility of the Comfort Keepers' brand. It may take a few days for you to notice all the changes as the updates move through the system, but we think you will be pleased with the results.

What next?

To ensure a smooth transition and understanding of the redesign strategy, CKFI will be uploading a  pre-recorded webinar to the Member's site on Monday, March 31. This webinar will give pertinent background on the redesign strategy and specific instructions on what franchisees should do once their websites are launched. Franchisees can obtain a summary of this webinar topic here.

Ongoing support

As an additional support after the launch, The Shipyard, in conjunction with CKFI, will be holding training webinars the week of April 7 to review site optimization strategies you can use to drive traffic to your local site. The Shipyard will also present a number of support package options that you may want to invest in to help get the most out of your site.

April's News You Can Use (NYCU) newsletter is just about ready for posting. This month we discuss the impacts dementia and Alzheimer's disease can have on a caregiver's stress levels and promising research that shows how the Tailored Activity Program (TAP) may be able to relieve some of that stress while also helping the Alzheimer's client. In our second article, we take a look at alcohol use and abuse in the senior population and warning signs to look for when you suspect a senior is drinking too much. We also explore the topic of reducing stress for a senior who is returning home after a hospital stay. Each of these articles presents ways in which in-home care can help the senior and his or her family and are appropriate to give to referral sources.

NYCU articles are generally posted to the Comfort Keepers^®' website around the first of the month; however, this month you will notice a delay of about one week as we launch the new website. Once the website goes live on April 4, we will be able to add the articles to the site and send the content with the links to Constant Contact for those of you who are subscribed to receive it. There is an approximate one-week delay after we send the content to Constant Contact, so subscribers should see the template around April 11. 

We will also post the plain Word version to Member's in the usual location at Member's > CK Brand > PR > NYCU/Pitch Packages 2014. This month, as we revise the NYCU strategy, we will discontinue the accompanying pitch package as the methods described in the package are outdated.

We are in the process of finalizing the new NYCU design, which has a planned launch for May. At conference, we will present the new design and strategies for incorporating NYCU into your local marketing plans during the Building Your Local Marketing Plan session on Friday, April 25. We are also planning training sessions and/or articles to aid you in your efforts to use this resource. Watch the Friday Flash in the coming weeks for more details on these.

Compassionate, dedicated, loyal, empathetic, trustworthy, patient, indispensable, positive, reliable, attentive, professional, and innovative are just some of the words used to describe our seven 2013 Comfort Keepers^® of the Year. Your votes recognized the following outstanding Comfort Keepers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty and to provide exceptional care and quality of life for their clients:

• Comfort Anima, CK#837, franchisee Anne Fannan, Pitman, NJ; nominated by Anne Fannan
• Mary Berridge, CK #298, franchisee Kathryn Murphy,  Jacksonville, FL; nominated by Kathryn Murphy
• Angela Dawson, CK#123, franchisee Mike McGee, West Chester, OH; nominated by Mike McGee
• Carolyn Hamilton, CK #453, franchisee Bill Cardenas, Los Angeles, CA; nominated by Bill Cardenas
• Kathleen Rogers, CK #753, franchisee Bob & Sandra Henriksen, Tualatin, OR;  nominated by Lori Klinge
• Amber Seebruck, CK #776, franchisee Anne Wilson, Rockford, IL;  nominated by Anne Wilson
• Berit Strom, CK #522, franchisee Linda Shurden, Hudson, WI; nominated by Jenny Akenson

If you have not yet tried our new print vendor, Standard Register, now is a great time to do so. As part of the new relationship with Comfort Keepers^®, Standard Register is offering free shipping on all orders through May 1, 2014. This is the perfect opportunity to stock up and save on printed items you use every day.

Ordering is made simple through SMARTworks^®, Standard Register's marketing online portal. If you missed the introductory webinar explaining the benefits and functionality of SMARTworks, you can view it on the SMARTworks home page.

You can also find instructions on setting up your SMARTworks account at Members > CK Brand > Vendors > Standard Register. 

Join us at the Medline roundtable discussion at the Leadership Conference Friday April 25, 2014 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and find out how you can take advantage of Comfort Keepers^®' new relationship with the largest, privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies in the United States. Mike Lee, President of Medline Home Care Division, in coordination with Lisa Ripley, will share with you the results of the pilot program currently in progress with a number of franchisees and give you an overview of the co-branded catalog. The catalog will offer frequently used medical and incontinence supplies that can be ordered by our clients and shipped directly to their homes.

You will also be able to preview samples of garments, such as scrubs and lab coats, embroidered with the Comfort Keepers' logo that will be available for purchase once the program is rolled out to the Comfort Keepers network as a whole. Attend the session and get a first-hand glimpse of the benefits and special Comfort Keepers pricing discounts Medline has to offer. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the program details and have all your questions answered.

Last week we introduced a new relationship CKFI is forming with the Centipede Health Network as part of the effort to expand the role of Comfort Keepers^® in the healthcare continuum. The Centipede Health Network will be the first national home- and community-based services network that will connect patients with qualified providers.

CKFI is happy to announce that franchise locations can now join the network. By joining Centipede, your office will be part of a single provider network that will eliminate the hassle of signing up with different health plans individually. Becoming part of Centipede has a number of advantages for franchises:

• There is no cost to participate; Centipede is not a paid, lead-generation service.
• Comfort Keepers locations will enjoy preferred provider status as part of an organization that has passed National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)-level credentialing standards.
• Comfort Keepers' information will be accessed by health plans, commercial long-term care plans, self-insured individuals, accountable care organizations, and private pay patients seeking in-home care services.

This will be a great opportunity to gain prominence in the healthcare marketplace. Please read the informational letter and frequently asked questions to learn more. 

To join Centipede, download and fill out the provider application and email the completed forms to Nicole Bond, Senior Project Manager, at JoinCentipede@heops.com or fax them to 

(866) 421-4135. 

You can also mail them to the following address:

Centipede Contracting

P.O. Box 291707

Nashville, TN 37229

If you have any questions, please direct them to Nicole at (855) 359-5391. 

CKFI recently exhibited at the 14th Annual Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance (ITLCI) Conference March 16 through 19. The focus of the conference was to learn how to better support baby boomers and seniors in their retirement planning and was attended by nearly 800 industry professionals. CKFI has attended for several years, which has given us an excellent opportunity to stay current with changes in the long-term-care (LTC) industry and network with claims administrators; third-party administrators, who build and manage provider networks for LTC companies; and LTC brokers who sell LTC policies across the United States.  

David Simic and Burt Stovall represented CKFI this year and spoke to numerous LTC company representatives who expressed an interest in learning more about and working with Comfort Keepers^®. You may hear from some of these companies in the coming weeks. Please read the conference summary for more information.  

The next MasterMind webinar is less than a week away. Join Cheryl Riggs, New and Transfer Business Coach, as she walks you through some best practices that can lead to fewer potential clients and more committed clients. Following up with clients, especially open, potential clients, is critical to successfully increasing your sales numbers, yet this process is often the most neglected. This MasterMind call will focus on "working the deck" to close those open prospects.  

Date:   Thursday, April 3, 2013 

Time:  11 a.m. EST (10 a.m. CST, 9 a.m. MTN, 8 a.m. PST)

Click here to join the MasterMind webinar.

For audio, enter your phone number when prompted after you log into the webinar. You will then be called back automatically by the system.

Or you can dial...  

Phone:                       (800) 591-2259
Participant Code:       886411