By Dr. Jesus Oliva

Connecting with ethnic communities in the U.S. can often benefit from an approach which is markedly different than that used to reach mainstream English speakers. Many cultures are far less reliant on mass media and tend to rely more on personal interactions with friends and neighbors.

Promotoras have a long history of providing public health services in many countries and, more recently, this approach has found success in the U.S. The idea originated in the early 17th century, when laypeople in Russia known as “feldshers” were trained to provide medical care to members of the military. They were the paramedics of their day and also provided guidance on preventive health topics. While doctors often visited patients, there were generally not enough of them, so the Feldshers were on the front line of care.

More recently, in Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries, promotoras have become a key part of the public services infrastructure. They help government deliver basic services and respond to community concerns related to, for example, public security, education, health, and public works. Their overall goal is to improve the community and the wellbeing of their neighbors.

Promotoras live and are active in the area where they work and become a link with the agency or organization which seeks to communicate and serve that community. They interact with their neighbors, share advice and provide guidance in both formal and informal settings. They even arrange and attend meetings with government agencies or other organizations to coordinate services or solve problems. Promotoras are generally not paid, but instead are offered a stipend to defray expenses.

In the U.S., unlike other countries, promotoras have largely focused on public health issues. In New York for example, at the beginning of 1950’s, government officials implemented a campaign using promotoras to reduce health disparities and bring health care to the poor. Today there are many successful programs implemented in various parts of the country. Although the outreach workers go by many names, including: Community Health Workers, Community Health Assistants, Primary Health Care Workers, they are essentially promotoras.

When working with promotoras:

1. Carefully consider the messages & information they will share
Promotora’s primary interest is in helping people, not selling products. In this traditional version of “social media”, the information shared should be helpful rather than promotional.

2. Implement a structured program
While promotoras can perform many roles, they should be part of a structured program. They need to be trained, with guidelines, policies and procedures to help them keep on target.

3. Be clear about your goals
Be clear about what you’re hoping to achieve and the community benefit. Some common goals are:

■ raise awareness of key service lines
■ provide basic health education,
■ provide cultural and linguistic assistance to increase the quality of care,
■ provide guidance on when, where and how to access services.

4. Keep them informed and motivated
Promotoras need to feel connected to your organization—to understand how your systems work, how to best help those who they assist and how the program is doing.

Dr. Jesus Oliva is a physician with over 20 years of experience working with Hispanic patients and promotoras in public health and private practice settings. He is currently the Director of Healthcare Consulting at MAGNUS where he focuses his practice on assisting clients in improving communications with Limited English Proficient (LEP) communities and ensuring compliance with regulatory mandates.

If your marketing program is offensive, that’s great. Offensive as opposed to defensive, that is.

It’s natural to want to wait and see what others in your field of healthcare are up to so you can react to it. But then you have little control and forfeit the leadership position.

Planning your marketing program a year in advance (and extending it further if possible) is smart business. Of course, major changes are likely. But at least you’ll have a basic plan that you can update as events play out.

Planning tells us where we’re headed and how we’ll get there without being distracted by extraneous events.

Clearly, planning is becoming harder. With fast changes in technology, communications and the economy, we’re constantly pressured into shooting from the hip rather than being proactive. But just like surgeons who need to plan out lifesaving procedures, marketers need to lay out a step-by-step, goal-oriented, strategic plan with strategies, tactics, budgets and timelines, then execute that plan in a deliberate way.

Planning is the most effective way to go about marketing a product or service. It focuses on your needs and strengths, and it makes it possible to measure results so you can make changes deliberately rather than reactively.

So go ahead, be offensive. Start planning for 2012 and 2013 now. And enjoy putting your competitors on the defensive, this time.

INTERESTING LINKS

Path of the Blue Eye

An initiative that aspires “to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing among health marketing communications professionals from around the world.” Check out their unique graphic novel designed to help healthcare marketers to share ideas. Visit this link: http://www.pathoftheblueeye.com/

Five Benefits of Being a Healthcare Marketer

A fun reminder of why our jobs are more inspiring than other people’s. #4: “We get to work with really smart people.”

Content Creation and Foursquare

An interview with Neal Gorman, VP Public Relations, Lutheran Medical Center, New York. Excerpt: “…foursquare is a great way to promote preventive health. We have a large network of health centers and part of our strategy is to have a badge that encourages people to check-in and leave a message like ‘I care for my health. I was tested today for X.’” Read More at this site: http://priorityresults.com/blog/interview-with-neal-gorman-of-lutheran-medical-center-content-creation-and-foursquare/

Message Points: Communicating During Crisis

by Mary Schnack

What messages need to be communicated during a crisis? Politicians are perhaps the best study on how to use message points when asked a variety of questions. In media training, you will learn how to acknowledge a question, but provide a response, which says what YOU want to say, whether it directly answers the question or not!

Having prepared message points allows you, rather than the reporter, to control the interview. Impossible? Not with message points!

A well-planned communication team and spokesperson will have a set of messages that they know very well and will endeavor to communicate them during every day interviews and a crisis. The messages will incorporate the organization’s objectives, along with responses to anticipated questions.

Because different audiences need different messages, message points may slightly vary for different audiences. However, the messages must be in concert so there is no conflict.

Why not just say no comment? Saying no comment says to the public that “I’m guilty of whatever you’re charging me with.” It also helps create a possible adversarial attitude with the press, which is always counterproductive. Even when your spokesperson can’t say much, perhaps due to legal reasons, being courteous and cooperative will go a long way toward building trust and credibility. If your spokesperson can’t provide reporters with answers to their questions, he or she should offer something else that is appropriate from the organization’s standpoint and that also is of value from a news perspective.

If, because of legal reasons, your spokesperson really does have “no comment,” he or she should think of another way to say it and again, should try to offer an alternative. Explain why you can’t comment, such as “I can’t answer because……” “It’s not our area of expertise” or “…..patient confidentiality.”


However, everyone who isn’t an authorized spokesperson must effectively say “no comment” and appropriately refer all questions to the Media Center.

When developing message points (three to five is a good number), always try to turn any negatives of a situation into positives. Never lie and do not use medical/technical jargon that the public may not understand. Statistics can be used to bolster your statement, but use them sparingly as they are also considered “boring” by the public.

Items that can be mentioned in message points may include the benefits of a service or product; a good safety record; contributions to employees, clients or the community; growth; successes, good citizenship, and your status in your industry.

Always have one of your message points be a “pastoral” point, showing a clear message of concern for any victims or people who are affected by the crisis.

Stick to concise, clear and internally consistent messages. Seek the middle ground between “no comment” and not using any discipline while answering questions.