Saint Clare’s Health System Women’s Health Center Launch

In today’s highly competitive healthcare environment, the ability to effectively communicate with a diverse range of constituent groups is essential to a hospital’s success.  From recruiting and retaining the best physicians and staff to keeping the community informed about the services and resources available to them, effective communication is central to it all.  When Saint Clare’s Health System was set to open its state-of-the-art Women’s Health Center at its Dover, NJ facility, they knew that an effective communications strategy was a critical to ensuring a successful launch, so they called on R&J. 

The Women’s Health Center at Saint Clare’s is a $1.4 million facility offering a broad range of healthcare services including digital mammography, bone density testing, massage, aromatherapy and yoga under one roof.  When it opened in October of 2002, it was also the only facility in northwestern New Jersey to offer digital mammography screenings.  Saint Clare’s was understandably excited about opening the impressive new facility, and wanted to mark the occasion in a manner that would help that excitement spread among community members, physicians and staff. 

R&J developed a comprehensive public relations program around the launch designed to do just that…. and we delivered!    The launch initiative comprised two separate events. The first was a private reception for area physicians hosted by Saint Clare’s executives and Women’s Health Center staff.  The second was an official grand opening celebration, which was open to the public and designed to encourage community members to see everything the new Center had to offer through personal tours of the facility.  Of course, the program also included an aggressive media relations effort to maximize the impact of the grand opening events.

In order to draw as many people as possible to these events, R&J secured an impressive roster of guest speakers, dignitaries and VIPs, including Naomi Judd, who delivered the keynote address at the public event.  In addition to being an accomplished musician and author, Ms. Judd is a former registered nurse and a passionate advocate for healthcare reform.

The grand opening event was held on October 1, 2002, marking both the launch of the Women’s Health Center and the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  It was a huge success.  Members of the community showed up in droves, quickly exceeding the capacity of the multiple tents erected on the hospital parking lot.  Ms. Judd delivered a heartfelt, impassioned address about her personal healthcare experiences, the importance of quality care to women and the need for healthcare reform.  Representatives from every media outlet covering the Saint Clare’s service area were on hand as well, each of them running feature stories on the Center in the days and weeks that followed.