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by Mary Helen Yarborough
Public Relations
To fulfill its mission to advocate children’s health care support,
MUSC’s Children’s Hospital will reach out and interface with
children, families and child health supporters through a new Web site
and social media campaign this month.
The Children’s Hospital has joined the National Association of
Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) in this
grassroots effort called Speak Now for Kids (http://www.speaknowforkids.org). The webpage and campaign goes live May 1 and will last through Mother’s Day May 10.
MUSC’s pediatric residents are committed to the campaign.
“Now is a pivotal time in the fight for affordable, appropriate health
care that needs to be available to all children,” said Kimberley
Sudheimer, M.D., one of the MUSC pediatric residents. “The most
important people in the process are the individual citizens who can
contact their legislator to let them know that this campaign matters,
and we need their support now. Investing in children is investing in
the future.”
The site features uploaded, at-home videos, written stories of parents,
children, health care professionals, family members, and advocates that
express their fears, hopes and desires for children’s health care
reform. “We encourage you to visit the site and upload your
story or video May 1-10,” said Meredith Strehle, Marketing and
Service Excellence manager for the Children’s Hospital.
Amid the changes and challenges in the political and economic arenas,
this site will enable the general public to voice their thoughts on
reform.
The site, which will be monitored, is not intended to support any
particular political stance on health care reform, but it’s intended to
enable child advocates to air their views. To drive traffic to the
site, NACHRI has provided some tools to promote the advocacy site,
including using the site to send a Mother’s Day card and sample
messaging one could post to their social media sites, much like a
Facebook.
“We are hoping you can help get the message out during this 10-day
period by posting these to your sites, dedicating your status on
Facebook and sending daily tweets through Twitter to lead people to the
site to state their messages,” said Strehle.
For 10 days, data will be collected through the Web site. At the end of
the campaign on May 10, information compiled from the site will be used
to develop reports and sent to national, state and district
representatives.
“As President Obama’s administration looks at health care reform, it is
important that the care of children has a focus,” said John M. Sanders,
MUSC Children’s Hospital administrator. “Right now, the number of
children who are covered by Medicaid dominates that program. We have to
make sure that there is a focus on health care access and care for the
children of this state and our country. Speak Now for Kids will help to
make sure our legislators keep children in mind as very important
decisions are made.”
MUSC’s role in the campaign mirrors its commitment and vision to
assuring that children’s health care is not undercut amid budgetary
shifts.
“This is an important opportunity,” Strehle said. “As the leading
provider of health care for South Carolina’s children, MUSC’s
Children’s Hospital is committed to alerting the entire region and
state to this opportunity to help collect data and information that
will be forwarded to congressional representatives as they debate
health care reform, and we urge continued support for the children of
the Lowcountry and the rest of the state.”
To learn more about the Speak Now for Kids campaign, visit http://www.SpeakNowforKids.org.
For information on how to become involved in MUSC's local campaign,
contact Strehle by calling 792-5111, or e-mailing strehle@musc.edu.
Friday, May 1, 2009
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