Huntingdon Valley, PA—December 4, 2012—Holy Redeemer Hospice was honored to receive the 2012 Silver Award for New Media, part of the Health Care Innovation Awards sponsored by the Philadelphia Business Journal on November 8, 2012. The award recognizes Caring with Confidence (www.careconfidently.com), a blog designed especially for the non-professional end-of-life caregiver: the family member or friend who steps in to care for a loved one on hospice.

Hospice caregivers are usually undertaking the role for the first time and have questions about how to care for someone who is severely ill, about their own emotions related to the situation, and later, grief. They have questions in abundance, but no time to seek answers in a doctor’s office or even at a support group: they are needed at home. What caregivers do have is access to the Internet. Caring with Confidence provides hands-on information that is available 24/7 from the experts at Holy Redeemer Hospice.

“We have a wealth of knowledge and experience about caregiving,” said Terre Mirsch, RN, Holy Redeemer Hospice nurse who led the project. “We wanted our caregivers to feel more confident in their day-to-day activities and to feel supported. The fact that the blog is read by caregivers across the country is a bonus.” Blog posts are written by hospice nurses, chaplains, social workers, bereavement specialists, and volunteers.

Caring with Confidence posts twice a week and has more than 200 regular followers. “One thing we are especially pleased with,” said Mirsch, “is the level of interaction with our readers and the number of times our posts are reposted on other blogs. That says to us that there is a need for this kind of information.” The results show Holy Redeemer’s caregivers are feeling better about their abilities: caregiver confidence is up nearly 5% since the blog launched in January, 2012.

Caring with Confidence also includes Useful Tools, hands-on tip sheets, and links to other Internet-based information sources.

About Holy Redeemer Hospice
Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice provides care to patients and their families in Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania. Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice, the largest nonprofit provider of home health and hospice services in the state of New Jersey, offers a continuum of services throughout 12 New Jersey counties, including Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem, Somerset, and Union. It is part of Holy Redeemer Health System, which offers a wide range of healthcare and health-related services, including an acute care hospital, home health and hospice services, two skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, a retirement community, low-income housing, an active living community, and a transitional housing program for homeless women and children. For more information, visit www.holyredeemer.com.

###