With recent expansions, Children's Hospital and Health System in Wauwatosa, WI, launched a community-focused campaign to instill ownership and a sense of connectivity in the community and to make it more than just a 12 story, 425,000 square foot structure.
Children's expanded its facility in response to increased need. However, with the expansion came the realization that they also needed a way to reach out to the community on a larger scale than they ever had before.
"We have a dozen and a half audiences," says Stephanie Hungerford, senior public relations specialist for Children's. "It's difficult to create a single campaign that appeals to everyone." But when Core Creative, of Milwaukee, WI, pitched the "This is MY Children's" concept to Children's, they recognized it as an all-inclusive idea.
"Their concept spoke the most strongly out of any we had seen because it gave a sense of ownership over the hospital. It connects people to the hospital," says Hungerford. "Children's is very much a part of the community," says Beth Crivello-Wagner director of public relations for Core Creative. "That's the message we wanted to get across—that Children's is interwoven within the fabric of community."
The campaign had two primary focuses—engagement and versatility. In order to engage the community the team brought the community's perspective into the campaign. It featured various individuals who all had experiences with or felt connected to Children's. The campaign incorporates their stories.
"Versatility was extremely important because we're actually a health system and the concept can be used across different entities," says Hungerford.
The multi-integrated campaign also includes an artwork project that features drawings by children (ages 3-18) of their visions of what Children's hospital looks like and what it means to them. One child's work from each of four age categories will be chosen to win a trip to a local water park for their family. "It's unique," says Hungerford. "It's actually two simultaneous campaigns. It's also interesting to see the hospital from the child's perspective."
"What we are really passionate about is spreading wings, when it comes to a healthcare campaign it's important to look at everyone as a part of it—everyone working together," says Crivello-Wagner. The campaign will continue throughout the expansions opening and Children's plans to take the artwork submissions on a community tour.
Kandace McLaughlin is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. Send her Campaign Spotlight ideas at kmclaughlin@healthleadersmedia.com If you are a marketer submitting a campaign on behalf of your facility or client, please ensure you have permission before doing so.
Wisconsin-based Aurora Health Care and the Grafton Village Board have completed a deal that gives Aurora more parking room for its new hospital and medical building in Grafton. As part of the deal, Aurora agreed to pay the village almost $2.4 million this year toward constructing the public works facility.
Bloomington (IN) Hospital has been given the green light to pursue its plans to integrate with Clarian Health Partners. Indianapolis-based Clarian includes the Riley Hospital for Children, Methodist Hospital and Indiana University Hospital. Under the plan, Clarian would take control of Bloomington in early 2010. The move is the latest example of smaller hospitals across Central Indiana teaming with the large Indianapolis-based systems as competition for patients, health workers and reimbursement heats up.
The interim chief executive for Cleveland-based MetroHealth Medical Center envisions running a hospital under two systems: one that attracts more patients who can afford healthcare and another that offers a streamlined, cost-effective method of delivering care to the poor. Mark Moran's proposal includes new screenings and other measures to guide non-emergency cases away from its emergency room; an expansion of certain services and more community health centers; "upgrades" that would allow MetroHealth to collect more of the money it bills; and possible partnerships with other hospitals.
Supporters of a $9.4 million outpatient surgery center near Gulf Shores, AL, are seeking a second opportunity to make their case after being rejected by state healthcare regulators in April. The Certificate of Need Review Board will hear from lawyers for a group of Baldwin County doctors and a subsidiary of Pensacola's Sacred Heart Health System. The groups want the panel to reconsider its denial of plans for Pleasure Island Ambulatory Surgery Center. The 7,900-square-foot facility would be built in northern Gulf Shores. Opposing the plans are Infirmary Health System and South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley, AL.
The latest results of the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration show dramatic across-the-board improvement in the performance of participating hospitals, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Launched in October 2003 by CMS and the Premier Inc. Healthcare Alliance, HQID involves about 250 hospitals in 36 states. The demonstration was designed to test new payment systems under Medicare that would improve the safety, quality and efficiency of care delivered in the nation's hospitals, according to a CMS release.