Gold Humanism Honor Society

Solidarity Week for Compassionate Patient Care

Led by the Gold Humanism Honor Society, Solidarity Week for Compassionate Patient Care is a special week that takes place each year around Valentine’s Day to celebrate patients and clinicians and the special bond of trust and compassion that yields the best care.

In 2027, Solidarity Week will be Monday, February 8, to Friday, February 12.

All GHHS chapters, medical, nursing, and other healthcare professional schools, and health systems and organizations are welcome to participate. There is no cost.

How will you celebrate? Each site designs activities to celebrate compassionate patient care in their unique community.

One option for an activity is Tell Me More®, a Gold Foundation program to connect more closely with patients, under a special complimentary 1-week Solidarity Week license.

How did Solidarity Week start?

Free sticker design for Solidarity Week that are sent out to participating institutions.

The national Gold Humanism Honor Society office established National Solidarity Day for Compassionate Care in 2011 to highlight the nation-wide movement promoting clinician-patient relationships based on caring, personalization, and mutual respect. Momentum gathered after the Senate passed a resolution in 2013 and 2014 to officially recognize Solidarity Day on the national calendar, and it is now typically celebrated on or around Valentine’s Day. Beginning in 2016, many chapters celebrated a week of events instead of just one day.

Banners

Download a PDF file of a banner to hang during Solidarity Week. Print the banner at your institution’s print shop or any other printing business, such as VistaPrint.

For help with the banners, please email balcala@gold-foundation.org.

Ideas for Solidarity Week

In the past, participating GHHS chapters and organizations have strengthened and celebrated compassionate patient care and the human connection in healthcare by:

  • Using the Tell Me More® tool to have meaningful conversations with patients
  • Creating Valentine’s Day cards and handed out to patients and the care team
  • Writing thank you notes to housekeepers, custodians, and others who help keep the health system clean and running smoothly
  • Passing out flowers to patients and the care team
  • Baking, cooking, and making crafts
  • Holding panel discussions focused on humanism in healthcare in their specific community

Using Tell Me More® during Solidarity Week

The Tell Me More® program encourages a conversation between a patient and a healthcare team member — it could be a medical, nursing, or other healthcare professional student, a volunteer, a clinician.Using the prompts on the Tell Me More® Wall Poster, the care team member learns more about the patient as a person, beyond their diagnosis.

These details are written up on the poster, which is then hung in the hospital room to help everyone who enters connect more quickly and easily with a patient.

Tell Me More® is a benefit for Gold Partners Council member. During Solidarity Week, the Gold Foundation grants GHHS chapters and organizations participating in Solidarity Week a 1-week license to use Gold Foundation’s Tell Me More® Program. It’s a great time to try out Tell Me More!

Interested? After you sign up for Solidarity Week, then sign up for Tell Me More to receive the program toolkit.

Archives & Past Participant Lists

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016