Hoffmann Hospice’s “Everything is Going to be OK” Campaign

Even during a public health crisis, hospice and palliative care professionals rise to the challenge of providing compassionate, person-centered care in the community. Tami Varner, Development Assistant at Hoffmann Hospice in Bakersfield, CA, shares how they have used a public awareness campaign to spread positive messages and support community groups and businesses. 

 

Each of us has faced challenges and daily changes to our life that can leave us feeling a little lost. Sometimes a few words can make all the difference in someone’s day. When the pandemic began, we all felt immediately impacted and questioned how we could make a difference. The answer for us was one message of hope at a time. That inspired Hoffmann Hospice to create our “Everything is Going to be OK” campaign. 

 

In March, we created and began taking orders for our “Everything is Going to be OK” yard signs. The yard signs quickly caught on and spread throughout our community. To date, we’ve sold over 4,000 yard signs. We partnered with a local hat company and created hats and face coverings, so each order of those products supported a non-profit and a local business. We also just began taking orders for shirts. This was our first opportunity to pivot our fundraising strategy toward reaching out to donors virtually through social media, email, and texting. 

 

The impact the campaign has had on our community has been truly inspirational. There are entire neighborhoods with signs displayed on every yard. One local teacher incorporated the campaign in her virtual teachings and went on to write a children’s book, “Once Upon A Time There was COVID-19.” A local pizza business has their staff wearing the shirts to encourage them and their customers, and our local KUZZ radio station has joined as ambassadors. The campaign has not only generated funding for our non-profit hospice, it allowed us to keep our staff engaged and working and created positivity in our community. 

 

If you would like to share the creative ways your hospice and palliative care team is caring for patients amid the COVID-19 crisis, please send us your photos and stories so you can be featured in the #hapcFacesOfCaring campaign.