We'd like to extend a special "thank you" to all the nurses in our community who do so much to help, comfort, and care for those in need. 

As Maya Angelou so eloquently put it, "They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel." 

We are pleased to announce that franchisees can now order discounted medical supplies and scrubs through Medline Industries. Medline carries more than 100,000 products, and since they are a manufacturer, they offer manufacturer advantages in pricing. Comfort Keepers^® franchisees can also enjoy free shipping on up to two orders per month.

As an added bonus, Medline is presenting a limited-time special offer: Buy two cases of Aloetouch^® gloves and get one case free plus free shipping. This offer is good through May 31, 2014, and is limited to five free cases.

To take advantage of these savings, set up a house account by contacting Katrina Duty at 

(800) 351-1665 or KDuty@Medline.com.

Need scrubs?

Access the Comfort Keepers-branded SuiteStyles^® site by Medline to order scrubs that fit the way you work. SuiteStyles offers a variety of affordable scrub tops, pants and lab coats with Comfort Keepers logo embroidery options. Delivery time is approximately one week and ordering is fast and easy. Simply access SuiteStyles.com and enter the following user ID and password in the "Login to My Facility Account" fields at the top of the page:

username:  comfort (all lower case)

password:  scrubs1 (all lower case)

If you have any questions, please contact Katrina Duty of Medline at KDuty@Medline.com or Lisa Ripley, CKFI Vice President of Strategic Relations at LisaRipley@ComfortKeepers.com.

This year's 2014 Comfort Keepers^®' Leadership Conference photos are in! Want to reminisce or see what you missed? Then check out our 2014 Conference Photobucket album. 

We have photos of the breakout and roundtable sessions, the general session, vendor expo, Comfort Keeper^® of the Year luncheon, Celebrating Our Success awards dinner, and more. Access the galleries and relive the weekend.

Later this month,  CKFI will post videos from the keynote sessions. Watch the Friday Flash for more details.

Thank you to all the conference attendees who stopped by the Comfort Keepers^® Nourish Senior Life^® (NSL) booth at the conference. We had displays of some great "Golden Apples," i.e. creative, successful NSL campaigns and Feed Seniors Now^® (FSN) initiatives that franchisees like you have created. 

We also a drawing to win up to $150 in NSL materials from Standard Register and one winner. Congratulations to Sandra Terry of Comfort Keepers offices #583 and 874 , Tiffin, Ohio, franchise owners Gary and Lennis Neisler. She has won up to $150 in NSL print materials!

Join the Nourish Senior Life LinkedIn Group

If you haven't done so yet, look for the NSL group on LinkedIn and join. This is your place to share your "Golden Apples" and nutrition ideas, discuss tactics, and support one another in your efforts to promote nutrition in the senior population. Now is the time to start planning your campaigns for National Hunger Action Month in September. For materials and more information and ideas on promoting NSL and FSN, visit Member's > CK Brand > Programs > Nourish Senior Life and Member's > CK Brand > Programs > Feed Seniors Now.

If you have any questions about NSL, contact Joni Magnus-Ramsey, Marketing Manager, at JoniMagnusRamsey@ComfortKeepers.com.

It has been one month since we launched the new websites and we are pleased to announce that all reported critical issues have been fixed.

We are continuing to monitor overall website performance and work on a few non-critical functions. Some common requests we are addressing include correcting locations and areas served, reducing the amount of spam  coming in through the "contact us" forms, and enabling job application forms and blogging capabilities. We plan to announce blogging capabilities in June and are working on solutions for other common requests. Look for details on these updates in future issues of the Friday Flash.

As a follow-up on your website's launch, we suggest you do the following to help make your website more effective:

1. Claim your website in Google Places. You can find information on how to do this in the Google Places User Guide. There are also instructions in this guide on how to sign up for a Google account so you can add your business to the Google local listings.
2. Customize your website, especially the "About Us" page and staff bios.
3. Build any additional location pages for the areas you service.
4. Log in and review your Google Analytics data to keep an eye on performance and identify areas of improvement.
5. Lastly, for those of you participating in pay-per-click campaigns, such as paid search marketing with Google AdWords™ or Bing Ads, please see the Comfort Keepers^®' Keyword Bids Excel document on the front page of the Member's site in the WEBSITE CENTRAL section to ensure you are not bidding on the same keywords being targeted by CKFI marketing efforts. Bidding on the same keywords will increase everyone's costs.

If you have any questions, please contact Angela Hammond, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, at AngelaHammond@ComfortKeepers.com. 

Are you taking advantage of your new website to further market your business? Be sure to do so by personalizing it through your website's content management system (CMS). You can access the CMS here. You can also access the CMS from ComfortKeepers.com or your own website. Just scroll down to the bottom of the site and click LOGIN. From there, you will be directed to the CMS log-in page. If you do not yet have your CMS log-in credentials, you can request access by visiting ComfortKeepersDigital.com and entering the following user name and password:

username: ckwebsite

password: comp@n!0n1

You can also find training webinars and documents that can guide you in updating your site as well as information on how to review your Google Analytics data at the above site.

Do you need help with your website?

As a reminder, CKFI offers franchisees up to two changes each month to their sites at no cost. Basic changes include staff bios, office location, or copy updates. Requests for those changes can be made via the CKWebSupport Request Form.

If you prefer professional support for your website, consider one of the three support packages that are available through The Shipyard. You can view the package options on the ComfortKeepersDigital.com site (see log-in information above) or contact Jake Wilk at JWilk@TheShipyard.com or (888) 738-9750 with questions or to order services.

If you have any questions, please contact Angela Hammond, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, at AngelaHammond@ComfortKeepers.com.

Comfort Keepers^® Seasons of Caring 2014 Calendar is a Gold Winner in the 11th Annual Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA) Awards. 

This 14-month calendar, featuring seasonal images and Comfort Keepers' imagery of caregivers and clients, has received great response from the franchisees who purchased it to give to their clients, referral sources, and employees. For those of you who have not purchased calendars for your office, 2015's calendar will be available to order this fall.

Don't miss out on special savings from Long Term Solutions (LTS). Enroll in the LTS Select Provider Network and get 14 months for the $299 annual rate through May 15, 2014.

Become part of a nationally recognized healthcare network that specializes in helping families address the care needs of their loved ones, primarily the elderly. LTS services include in-home assessments, care coordination, plan of care development and resource information on local, appropriate care providers. LTS works with long-term care insurance carriers, employers, and directly with families to connect clients with the care they need. In 2013 alone, LTS conducted 45,000 in-home assessments. Their commitment to quality, efficient, effective care is their trademark.

CKFI invites you to attend one of two webinars with Professionals Helping Seniors (PHS) Alliance on May 21 and 22 to discover if this network may be beneficial to your business.

PHS Alliance offers bundled senior-care services as part of company voluntary benefit plans in over 600 US cities. This Dependent Assistance Program (D.A.P.) provides one-stop shopping for primary caregivers, who are generally adult children employed full time outside the home. Blue Cross Blue Shield in one Northeastern state and a Tennessee-based company with 6000 employees nationally are two examples of where this benefit program is currently offered.

Through this benefit program, caregivers can find home care and long-term care; handy man, financial, elder law, and accounting services; geriatric care management; durable medical equipment; real estate and reverse mortgages; Medicare supplement insurance providers and more.

The cost to join a PHS Alliance is $50.00 per month or $110.00 per quarter per Alliance member. This network may be an excellent opportunity for some franchisees today; others may want to consider this investment for future revenue streams.

To learn more and discover if this opportunity is a good fit for your business, attend an informational webinar:

Wednesday, May, 21,2014    4 p.m. EDT    Register Here

Thursday, May 22, 2014        2 p.m. EDT    Register Here

Dial-in information for both sessions:

Phone:                      (800) 591-2259

Participant Code:      886411 

Want to differentiate your business from the sea of competitors in the senior care marketplace? Then take advantage of  opportunities in the Key Accounts pages of CK Brand. Comfort Keepers' Key Account program is designed to

• increase awareness of Comfort Keepers' services in organizations with large numbers of seniors and adult children.
• broaden the scope of potential referral sources for all franchisees.
• drive referrals that create revenue for franchisees across the network.

The key accounts are separated into seven primary categories. Look for these on Member's > CK Brand > Sales > Key Accounts:

Join Patrick Hanna of Kaleida Systems, Inc. as he takes you on a journey through the Internet-based client management, scheduling, billing, and payroll system, eRSP™. 

Patrick will guide you through optimizing your business development tracking skills so you can keep up with leads, referral sources, and more. This is a live webinar, so come prepared with questions.