Making the Most of a Year of Healthcare Events

From National Pharmacist Day in January to Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week in December, the calendar is full of opportunities to highlight important health initiatives and honor your facility’s healthcare heroes. 

Take advantage of these special occasions to generate awareness for important health issues and recognize your hardworking healthcare professionals. 

Don’t miss out! Add these important dates to your calendar so you can boost employee engagement, do community outreach, and market your practice with timely campaigns.

National Nurses Month (May)

Nurses make an incredible difference in the lives of their patients. That’s why National Nurses Week, which hospitals celebrate from May 6-12, evolved into an even larger celebration during the entire month of May.

Here are some great ideas to celebrate National Nurses Month: 

• Highlight a nurse: Publicly recognize your nurses with thoughtful content marketing campaigns. Interview your nurses and share their inspirational stories on your company website and social media. 

• Honor special nurses on your staff: Recognize the nurses on your team that go above and beyond for their patients. Create awards for years of service, excellent patient care, and standout performance to recognize your nurses.

• Recognize all nurses with thoughtful gifts: Honor your entire nursing team — RNs, LPNs, Travel Nurses, Speciality Nurses, Nurse Managers, and more — with thoughtful gifts, like a nurse appreciation tin filled with snacks.

• Encourage self-care: Nurses spend most of their time caring for everyone else, so encourage them to practice self-care with a yoga mat and matching towel or a sleep mask set. 

National Hospital Week (May)

Coinciding with National Nurse’s Month is National Hospital Week, which always runs during the week of Florence Nightingale’s birthday (May 12). This is an ideal time for hospitals and healthcare systems to recognize employees for their devoted service. Try these ideas to celebrate National Hospital Week in style: 

• Curate brand boxes for donors: Organizations can use National Hospital Week as a fundraising opportunity by sending boxed experiences to high-profile donors. Boundless’s customizable boxes allow you to print a QR code on the box that links to a custom greeting. Record a video explaining National Hospital Week and how vital the donor’s financial contributions are to your organization’s success. 

• Encourage online engagement: Encourage your employees and other community members to participate in National Hospital Week by showing their support on social media. Download the AHA’s digital toolkit to learn more about publicly highlighting your experienced healthcare providers. 

National Pharmacists’ Day (January)

National Pharmacists’ Day is celebrated annually on Jan. 12 as an opportunity to thank pharmacists and pharmacy technicians for their dedication and precision. 

More patients place their trust in pharmacists for issues ranging from counseling to medication management, so your pharmacists are likely overdue for some recognition. 

Show your pharmacists you care. Start a creative “Thank a Pharmacist” campaign at your hospital. Order custom thank-you sticky notes with your logo and encourage patients to write a quick, heartfelt word of thanks to their pharmacist.

Administrative Professionals’ Day (April)

Administrative Professionals’ Day happens on Wednesday in the last full week of April. This holiday celebrates the hardworking — and often underappreciated — administrators who keep your medical offices running smoothly. 

Try honoring these employees with themed gifts. Bring a smile to your favorite administrators’ faces with a custom coffee and tea basket or surprise them with sweet treats at their workstations.

Medical Assistants Recognition Week (October)

Medical Assistants Recognition Week (MARweek) is celebrated during the third full week of October. Try these tips to celebrate your medical assistants every year:

• Encourage professional development: Show your medical assistants you believe in their future. Reimburse their tuition for medical- or technology-related courses, or offer registration reimbursement for the AAMA Annual Conference. 

• Paid time off with vacation-themed gifts: Celebrate MARweek by awarding your medical assistants an extra day or two of paid time off. Boundless can help you announce this with a curated brand box of vacation-themed goodies with sunglasses, sunblock, and beach towels. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October)

Over 42,000 women and 2,400 men are diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the United States. Every October, thousands of healthcare practices participate in Breast Cancer Awareness Month to spread awareness, raise funds, and conduct patient outreach. Follow these tips to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

• Plan a community breast cancer awareness walk or fun run: You can raise funds for charity and generate breast cancer awareness with fun community events like walks or races. During the event, pass out breast cancer awareness products like powerful boxing glove keychains, fun retro sunglasses, and calendars with monthly breast self-exam reminders. 

• Send educational materials to patients: Encourage your patients to educate themselves during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Do a direct mail campaign that sends instructions on performing self-breast exams, where and when to get mammograms, and other pertinent breast health information. 

National Wear Red Day® (February)

National Wear Red Day, celebrated on the first Friday in February, kicks off American Heart Month. The purpose of National Wear Red Day is to bring greater attention to heart disease, which is a leading cause of death in the U.S. Mobilize your employees and engage with the community with these tips: 

• Coordinate red outfits: Throw a red-themed office lunch and encourage your colleagues to wear red to support heart health. Don’t forget to snap a group selfie and post it on social media.

• Encourage heart-healthy habits: Create a fun community event and use it as a chance to do public outreach. Bring in a nutritionist to demonstrate heart-healthy recipes, invite a dentist to speak about the connection between dental hygiene and cardiovascular health, or offer free on-site cholesterol screenings. 

• Draw attention through giveaways: Offer branded promotional items like a wooden heart puzzle or a heart-shaped stress reliever to encourage people to schedule an exam with their primary care doctor. You can also give away useful health products like pedometers or smart fitness trackers. 

Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month (June)

With more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s and at least 50 million people worldwide, this disease is reaching epidemic proportions. As the seventh leading cause of death in the world, hospitals and health practices have the power to boost Alzheimer’s awareness with these tips:

• Fundraise on “The Longest Day:” The Alzheimer’s Association encourages people to engage in their favorite activities on June 21st — the year's longest day — to bring awareness and fundraise for Alzheimer’s care, support, and research.

• Wear purple to show support: Purple is the official color of the Alzheimer’s movement, so encourage your colleagues to wear purple T-shirts or purple pins. Snap a group photo in your purple swag and share it on social media with the hashtag #ENDALZ. 

• Sponsor a Walk to End Alzheimer’s: Hundreds of communities across the U.S. participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Why not sign up to be a sponsor? You can even encourage your employees to create a team and offer an extra day of PTO to those who participate.

Add these important healthcare celebrations to your calendar

Healthcare holidays and events are the perfect time to engage with your community, connect with employees, and foster greater awareness of your hospital or clinic’s services. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to celebrate your employees or reach out to the community, add these events to your calendar to make a bigger splash. 

It helps to have powerful promotional products for these events, too. That’s where Boundless comes in. We help healthcare providers source the best branded merchandise for everything from employee recognition campaigns to community outreach. See how Boundless can take your healthcare practice to the next level.