For those Hospitalized

Plan a housecleaning party – This is a great thing to do for someone ready to come home from the hospital. Be sure to ask your friend if it’s OK for some “elves” to show up, and specify a time. Use your WhatFriendsDo.com team page to get the “elves” organized: suggest that everyone bring some cleaning supplies so you don’t have to hunt for them. Leave a surprise or two in the house while you’re there – a fun bar of soap in the bathroom or a small vase of flowers beside a bed will bring a smile to your friend’s face.

Plan a yardwork day – A family with someone in the hospital will probably not have time to weed the flowerbeds, trim and mow or rake leaves. Use your WhatFriendsDo.com team page to organize friends to spend an hour or two doing yardwork.

Tis a gift to give – Your friend will enjoy giving gifts to others even in the midst of a crisis or trauma. Send a gift card to your friend with a note suggesting he or she use the gift card to do something lovely for someone who has been extra helpful.

Is shopping your gift? – Plan a shopping trip for the kids – maybe they need school supplies, birthday gifts, new shoes. Your friend will be grateful to have help with these tasks, and probably also has some things to do that are easier to do when the children are not around.

Thank you! Give your friend some blank note cards and ask if you could write some notes on your friend’s behalf.

Sweets things – Give your friend a small basket filled with fun candies. It will be a great "center of attention" as your friend recovers in the hospital or nursing home or has visitors at home. Include some refills, too!

What were the doctor’s orders? – If your friend is going to be hospitalized, give him or her this health-organizing three-ring binder is designed to help people keep track of their medical papers and records. This is very important in times of medical crisis, but equally important when living with a chronic illness. The sections include medical history of family members, emergency contacts, appointments, health professionals’ business cards, referrals, questions and answers, and more. Extra binder pages are available and extra divider tabs can be customized.

$34.95

Taxi! Offer to drive family members back and forth to the hospital.

Change is good! – Whatever your friend’s situation is, a fun coin purse – filled of course! – will be great … for parking meters, vending machines or even those extra few cents at the grocery check-out.

Oh, I could sleep anywhere! Family members staying at the hospital will be thrilled with a neck pillow – it will make sleeping in a chair more comfortable! Add a fun blanket that folds up compactly, too.

Little black book – Give your friend a new address book – add your own information - name/address/phone/email … attach a note for them to add all contact info for doctors/nurses. If you have access to your friend’s email address book, print it and write the addresses into the new address book. This will become a much-used tool!