Skip to main content

Patient Tattoos Hospital Preference on Chest

Analysis  |  By Marianne@example.com  
   August 03, 2016

The patient is "known internally as 'the Crouse tattoo guy' and staff love to see him." It's "probably the best advertising we could do," says a hospital executive.

How's this for brand loyalty? A Crouse Hospital patient visited the Syracuse, NY hospital's emergency department so often that he got the organization's "Take Me To Crouse" tag line tattooed on his chest.

The patient told local media that he got the idea from his longtime physician, who jokingly suggested that the patient get a Crouse tattoo because of his frequent visits.

"I like the care at Crouse and I would always want to be taken care of there in an emergency," said the patient, Brian Andrianos, who has nine other tattoos.

Andrianos has visited the Crouse ED at least eight times due to heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other ailments. He is effusive in his praise of his doctor, Mark Erlebacher, MD, who has cared for Andrianos for 25 years.

"I really feel without his guidance and help, I would be just dirt these days," he said. "He's kept good track of me."

To show his appreciation, Andrianos had the word "me" capitalized in black letters in the tattoo, representing Erlebacher's initials.

"We had heard about this extremely loyal Crouse patient for months from staff who cared for him during his frequent hospital stays, but had been unable to track him down initially to verify that he had indeed 'branded' himself with the hospital logo and tagline 'Take Me to Crouse,'" Bob Allen, Crouse's vice president of communications and government affairs, told HealthLeaders.

"He's now known internally as 'the Crouse tattoo guy' and staff love to see him. I can't imagine there's another patient in the country who's done what Brian has done—probably the best advertising we could do!"

Crouse Hospital shared an article about the tattoo on its Facebook page, with the caption, "'I LIKE THE CARE AT CROUSE and I would always want to be taken care of there in an emergency.' Thank you, Brian!"

Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.


Get the latest on healthcare leadership in your inbox.