Balance Concierge Partners with Review Concierge - June 28, 2015

For some of the busiest professionals – the physicians, nurses and health care teams in hospitals and practices across the nation – Online review management continues to be a growing need in the Healthcare industry and it's now easier to find work life balance with social reputation support from Balance Concierge.

Balance Concierge, a special niche concierge service benefiting healthcare employees, physicians and patients today announced a new partnership with Review Concierge® a growing technology company dedicated to helping healthcare professionals take control of their online reviews.

As an added benefit to the personal assistance, recognition and wellness programs Balance Concierge currently offers its clients, this new partnership will further help healthcare professionals by easily connecting them to Review Concierge's online review management tools.

Review Concierge offers a complete range of services to help doctors, dentists, alternative healthcare practitioners, as well as medical support teams including practice managers, patient experience professionals, and office managers, marketing and social media teams to manage their online reviews and protect their reputations.

Health and wellness are an important part of a balanced life. In addition to reducing stress in the lives of busy caregivers, Balance also offers many services and onsite opportunities to enhance the overall wellness of our Members. Coordinating onsite Farmers Markets, offering a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and partnering with our client's Nutrition Services and Wellness Teams are just a few examples of how Balance contributes to the health and wellness of caregivers. Balance first reaches out to internal departments within the organizations we serve to share previously successful partnership opportunities to promote wellness. Offering caregivers significant savings on health and wellness realted products and services is also a cornerstone of the local vendor networks we  create.  Through a wholistic approach, Balance provides innovative solutions for creating more work-life balance, as well as enhancing the overall wellness of caregivers.

Guest Blog Written By: 

Jennifer Cooper
Vice President of Operations

Onsite events enhance the convenience offered by the Concierge for the busy caregivers we serve. Partnering with local vendors to help stimulate the local economy allows our Concierge Teams to create new and exciting events for caregivers. Balance provides unique options each month at all of our sites such as, onsite eyeglass repair for caregivers to bring their glasses in for new nose pads, adjustments, screw tightening or replacement - all free of charge! We also offer onsite watch battery replacement at a discounted rate, which is always a big hit at all of our sites. The convenience of onsite travel services provides more caregivers with opportunities to achieve the much needed work-life balance they need to cotinue providing exceptional care for their patients. Our Concierges are eager to assist with all requests to help balance busy lives and these onsite events are an additional source of convenience that saves caregivers the most precious gift of all, time.

July is one of the biggest vacation months of the year. Something about fireworks and spending an afternoon on a lake just keeps drawing us back for more. The only down part to taking a vacation is taking the time to plan it. Working all day at the hospital and then coming home to a house that needs cleaning or children who need your care, it can almost be impossible, and then you find yourself distracted at work on your smartphone googling best places to watch fireworks. Then every so often you start typing then remember there was something important that you had to do today and your Google search comes out saying “best place to watch patient’s charts.”

We know all too well the importance of staying focused as a caregiver on the wellbeing of patients and your job. That is why at BalanceConcierge we put together a firework guide to all of your local firework shows with dates, times, locations and costs; and if there is a cost for these firework displays you can assume that we are going to get you a discount to the show. This guide makes it easy for you to pick the shows that best fit with the family’s schedule and maximizes the oohs and aahs at the firework display you choose.  No Google search required!

Remember that Google search you did on firework displays and somehow ended up searching for “best place to watch patient’s charts?” I am guessing you did the same thing when you were trying to plan a vacation for the end of July as well. Let Balance Concierge take care of your planning for you. We promise to compile a short list of places to take the family with the best pricing by negotiating with our wide network of vendors to accommodate your request for “the best place to take a vacation,” Consider us your living Google search that automatically filters out all the clutter!

What’s that you say? You don’t have Balance Concierge in your hospital? Well maybe it is time to check us out or give us a call and see how much we can help you, your staff and caregivers will be glad that you did!

Putting the Care Back into Healthcare,

It is easy to lose focus during the summer months of the year. The sun is out, the weather is warm, and the water is calling your name. Summer, also is when the kids are out of school and they are probably calling you at work what feels like every 15 seconds as though they feel that you don’t really do all that much at work. Sound familiar?

Summer, just like any other season, is a time for you to take a vacation with your family. It is crucial to take a break from work every so often and spend time with your family who so desperately want you to be home 24/7.  It is in these brief moments of serenity that you get to focus on what matters most to you, and when it is time to come back to work, well quite frankly you are proven to be much more focused and recharged… well maybe not the first day back when you are wishing you could have just one more day.

3 Important reasons why it is critical that you take a break not only in the summer, but every so often:

1.  For your sanity. You know those days where you are on the verge of any little thing setting you off. Please do not wait until you cannot handle it anymore and you snap. Taking breaks from work is not only healthy for you, but it’s just as great for your co-workers. It allows them to start to do things on their own and gives them a sense of leadership too. Frankly taking these vacations will also allow you to collect your thoughts and realize the things that are irritating you have solutions that are both practical and fair.
2. 97% of parents say their kids got to know more about them on family trips, and quality time spent with their children skyrocketed to a whopping 82%.  Summer vacations are a great time for bonding. You will learn more about your kids, and help build strong bonds that will last forever.
3. New Stimuli can help facilitate new creative ideas. Creativity is such a key role in today’s careers. Sometimes by doing the same job day in and out we get stuck in a rut and eventually we run out of ideas. Taking a trip to somewhere new can unlock creative ideas and when you return to work, those ideas can shine through and help you to fall in love with your job all over again. 

So you see why it is healthy and helpful to take a vacation this summer. Now it is just a matter of where and when. That is where BalanceConcierge comes in to play. We will take care of all of this for you, not because we are tired of seeing you around the hospital, but because we care enough to help you balance work and life. With our expertise and creative ideas, Balance Concierge will help you plan the getaway you dreamed of with any budget you set. Balance Concierge will help you every step of the way, and if you just don’t have time, well we will plan it all and present it to you when we have found what you are looking for. We want you to stay healthy, and this is how we help make that happen.

Live What You Love,

 Today marks the first day of the annual National Employee Wellness Month. June is all about the health and wellness of our nation’s employees, and engaging our employees in healthier lifestyles. Did you know that a healthier employee will help lower your hospital’s healthcare costs? It is true, and it does not just stop there. A healthier employee is more productive and engaged in their workplace.

At Balance Concierge we help your hospital achieve this goal, and more. We strive to make your hospital’s employees fall in love with their job all over again and in doing so, we take the necessary steps to promote their wellbeing, and the future wellbeing of the hospital.

Balance Concierge is dedicated to help bring wellness to its members not just through the month of June, but for every month thereafter.

Here are few events and promotions that our on site concierge ambassadors teams are hosting throughout the month of June:

One of our hospitals created a Resource Guide to celebrate Employee Wellness Month which features the many discounts provided to their staff, like gym passes, fitness classes, yoga studios and YMCA memberships.

Another hospital’s concierge team is providing staff with Health Risk Assessments or HRA’s to kick off Employee Wellness Month. In addition they will promote a variety of classes, programs, and demos from their internal wellness team.

Finally, our on site concierge ambassador team has partnered with the their wellness team to promote classes and savings on the fitness club facilities that are available at their sites.

In today’s fast paced society personal wellness has seeped into the background. It is our mission to bring wellness back to the foreground so the caregivers of our hospitals around the country can have a more productive, healthy, and happy life

Live what you Love,

Balance Concierge 

Covenant HealthCare is making a strong statement about being an employer of choice and Saginaw being a community of choice for the best and brightest health care workers to live and raise their families with its innovative new concierge service. This concierge service is designed to help physicians and employees better balance the demands of stressful jobs with their families and personal lives. It will also serve as an enhancement to some of the services our volunteers currently provide, helping patients and visitors cope with sudden illness and unexpected hospitalizations. At the same time, it will bring fresh opportunities for local businesses.

The concierge desk, increasingly popular in health care settings, will provide information, research and assistance on a broad variety of requests such as lodging and travel reservations, on-site pick-up and delivery of dry cleaning and automotive services, gift ideas, restaurant reservations, and much more. It is estimated the service can save users up to four hours each week.

Local businesses are partnering with Covenant HealthCare to market special services and savings to Covenant HealthCare employees to help them stretch their pay-checks and have easier access to services that can be difficult to schedule, such as auto repairs.

The service will be accessible through onsite concierge staff, by phone and through a virtual online concierge. For patients and visitors, the service can be utilized to assist with such things as pet care and household management as well as adding comfort to their stay through amenities like movies and books.
"With this concierge service, Covenant HealthCare strives to distinguish itself as one of the best health care organizations while strengthening its commitment to remain a hospital of choice," said Al VanArsdal, Director of Human Resources at Covenant. "Implementing an on-site concierge program takes our services to the next level. By providing this service at no extra fee other than the cost of the goods and services themselves, we are helping our employees and physicians save time and money, and reducing the stress in their lives."

The new service, being implemented by Balance Concierge, a company specializing in work-life balance and engagement strategies for health care organizations, presents a unique opportunity for local businesses to reach out directly to the more than 4,200 Covenant HealthCare employees and employed physicians and at no cost to the business.

- Saginaw, Michigan