Amplified: Q2 2009
AMPLIFIERS OF THE QUARTER
Amplify Highlights Nursing's Role in Health Reform
On May 8, 2009 Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Donna E. Shalala came together to discuss nurse-developed solutions that can help fix American’s health care system. Joining the Governor and Dr. Shalala at the briefing were Tine Hansen-Turton, Executive Director of the National Nursing Centers Consortium, and Susan Sherman, President of the Independence Foundation.
The event, sponsored by the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), highlighted the important role nurses will play in reform efforts and detailed specific solutions to address current health care challenges. Specifically, speakers discussed the potential of nurse-managed health care centers to ease the health care crisis by combating the physician shortage and increasing the number of patients served. Also at the briefing, Ms. Hansen-Turton released a five-point plan geared towards increasing access to health care, improving care for patients with chronic diseases and improving the efficiency of the health care system.
To learn more about the event or the five-point plan, click here.
APA Helps Promote Diabetes Walks
APA provided public relations support for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Capitol Chapter's two spring walks to raise funds for research. APA, working closely with Fox 5's Gwen Tolbart, tapped Fox 5 to serve as our Walk for the Cure media partner. 
This included Gwen's Fox 5 Fit to Live Blog where we teamed up with local professional and college sports teams (the idea being that with the JDRF sneaker sales and the DC walk at the Nationals' baseball stadium, we would pursue a sports theme). The Mystics were awesome – they contributed to the blog, appeared on TV with Fox 5 and JDRF staff. Coach Flip Saunders of the Wizards, Coach L of GMU's men’s basketball team and others also contributed with health tips to the blog.
The sports teams were fantastic. Here’s a snapshot of the generous contributions we were able to secure (we used these items as raffles for walk teams who raised the most money):
- Autographed pair of sneakers from Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken
- Autographed Ovechkin puck, compliments of Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis
- 4 tickets to attend the taping of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption (Wilbon & Kornheiser)
Politico newspaper ran a pro bono ad in one of their health issues; North American Networks radio agreed to tape a PSA, and Comcast's Robert Traynham (who helped MC the VA walk) assisted our effort with a PSA that ran on CNN's Headline News (local). And of course, Gwen interviewed several of us live on Fox 5. Wash FM played a role and Congressman Gerry Connolly and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the honorary walk co-chairs, were interviewed on News Channel 8.
APA Organizes Hill Briefings
Earlier this year, the National Consumers League (NCL) embarked on a multi-year, multi-stakeholder, multi-million dollar National Medication Adherence Campaign, the objective of which is to increase medication adherence by raising consumer awareness about the importance of adherence as a health issue. NCL asked Amplify Public Affairs to assist with Congressional Staff Briefings to insure that the Hill was completely informed as staff and Members engage in health reform. A briefing was held in May for Senate staff and another in June for the House. Staffers and policy makers heard from a panel including: Sally Greenberg, Executive Director, NCL; Jean Krause, Executive Vice President and CEO, American College of Physicians Foundation; Dr. Ed Pezalla, National Medical Director & Chief Clinical Officer, Aetna Pharmacy Management; William Ellis, Executive Director and CEO, American Pharmacists Association Foundation; and Andrew Mekelburg, VP Federal Government Relations, Verizon Communications.
APA Rebuilds WHSRN Website on Drupal Platform
On June 25th, Amplify relaunched the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) website on the Drupal content management platform. The restructured website includes a streamlined system for presenting and archiving news items, a smoother, more efficient format for over three dozen online profiles of the Network's shorebird conservation sites, and improved overall usability and organization. A bi-lingual website, the rebuilt WHSRN.org also features page-for-page language switching capability.
iAWFUL: The Ten Worst Proposed Internet Laws
On Tuesday, June 9, NetChoice launched an initiative to highlight the worst state and federal bills that could restrict convenience, choice, and commerce on the Internet. The Internet Advocates' Watchlist for Ugly Laws (iAWFUL) microsite includes a Yahoo! Map showing where those laws are proposed, information about the bills, and both general and specific calls to action. APA helped NetChoice design and build the site in two and a half weeks.
Amplify and Earthjustice Take Mercury Issues to the Blogosphere
Did you know that just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and render the fish in that lake unsafe to eat? Amplify recently worked with Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, to help them spread the word about the dangers of mercury emissions from cement kilns, which affect people all across the country, especially children and pregnant women.
To promote this important issue, Amplify created a series of blog ads for select environmental, political, and parenting blogs. The ads drove traffic to several elements of Earthjustice's creative cement kilns campaign, including a naming contest for "foul fish" like the "Unholy Mackerel," a petition to the EPA, and a unique video of a cement kiln near San Francisco that Earthjustice created using Google Earth.
The cement kiln blog ad campaign was a successful marketing campaign, augmenting Eathjustice’s online efforts with thousands of clicks to the website. Most importantly, it raised awareness about the severity of the mercury emissions problem, reaching the eyes of millions of blog readers. To learn more about cement kilns, visit the Earthjustice website.
GET TO KNOW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
Amplify Launches Social Media Resource Center
To help our clients and partners become more familiar with the growing social medai phenomenon, Amplify has created a social media resource center where you can learn key terms, test your knowledge and read relevant case studies and reports. The resource center can be found here and should be considered an ever-changing and evolving reference site.
To learn more about Amplify's social media services, click here.
Disruptive Women in Health Care Featured Post
Eating Our Way To Better Health
Healthy eating is critical to good health. Yet, we seem to make it exceedingly difficult for the average family to eat a healthy diet.
I recently had the opportunity to watch an advance screening of Food Inc.. There is a vignette in the film that has stuck with me. It follows a Latino family of four struggling to make good and affordable food choices. They discuss how their school and work schedules leave little time to prepare meals at home. They compare the cost of buying dinner at the drive-thru (cheap) to buying produce at the grocery store (expensive). And most memorably, they share that the costs of prescriptions to treat the father’s diabetes severely limit their food budget.
There are no easy solutions to this family’s problems. Nor are their problems unique...
To read the rest of this post, click here.
Connect with Disruptive Women in Health Care Blog
Did you know that the Disruptive Women in Health Care blog has profiles on both Facebook and Twitter? We invite everyone (both men and women) to join the DW community.
APA OUT AND ABOUT
APA Chairman Sam Simon and VP Kevin Reid where among the 80+ individuals invited to attend the Repairing Communications with Congress Implementation Summit on Capitol Hill on June 22. The event was the latest in a series of reports and activities spearheaded by the Congressional Management Foundation to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of online communications between citizens and Members of Congress. APA has played an active role in the ongoing project. For more information on the project, visit the Congressional Management Foundation website.
Amplify Attends Premiere Social Media Event
On June 12, Amplify's Jennifer Berk (Director of Marketing and Internet Strategy) and Julie Minevich (Social Media Strategist) attended Blog Potomac, a premiere social media marketing event for greater Washington, DC. The one-day "unconference" featured nationallly renowed speakers and advanced discussion of best social media marketing practices.
Read "The Ten Best Ideas from BlogPotomac" to learn more about the social media trends and challenges discussed during the event.
Interest in Social Media and Health Care Grows
Robin Strongin, APA President & CEO, recently delivered two speeches on Social Media in Health Care. The first, Reforming Health Care and the Practice of Medicine was presented to the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery and the second, Social Media in Health Care: Understanding the Basics, Underscoring the Benefits was presented at George Mason University’s Washington Health Policy Institute.
Non-Profit Social Media Roundtable
Jennifer Berk, Director of Marketing and Internet Strategy, led the InsideNGO Young Professionals Roundtable on June 17th, on the topic of social media at work in non-profit organizations. Resources from her presentation are available on Amplify's Advocacy Avenue blog.
