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Client Happenings
Ball Consulting Group managed the launch of Prescription Dynamics, a Montvale, New Jersey-based compounding pharmacy that custom prepares medication for patients who can't use commercially manufactured drugs because they have an allergy, need a strength or dosage that is not made, or because the drug is unavailable. The pharmacy has a research affiliation with Fairleigh Dickinson University. In addition to the media announcement and ongoing outreach, we developed the new firm's website.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services $1 billion competition for the most innovative ideas in health care provided us the opportunity to work with the Fresno, California-based Geriatric Medical Care Center in the submission of a grant application. The Center's innovative vision calls for bringing many geriatric-focused services under one roof for improved coordination of care of an aging population that has a high incidence of chronic disease and often faces geographic isolation.
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Congratulations to client Mutual Oil on its expansion down the East Coast to the Southern United States and on the hiring of new members to its sales and marketing team.
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Greetings!
Will 2012 be the start of America's second half, as Clint Eastwood promised in a bold ad during the Super Bowl? It is hard to tell. But some recent signs, like an increase in the return of manufacturing to the U.S. from the Far East and a booming jobs market in the energy sector, show the promise of a recovering economy and improved competitiveness.
Our clients' plans for the year echo these trends, with many making new investments in resources and capabilities. Our firm is doing the same. We have added a new senior member of our team who you will read about in this newsletter and are making other investments in technology to allow us to serve a growing group of clients in the U.S. and abroad.
We welcome the opportunity to help your organization use strategic communications to achieve and exceed its growth goals in the coming year.
David Ball, President
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A New Model for Helping Individuals with Disabilities Achieve Economic Independence
People with disabilities have a much harder time finding employment than those without, despite the fact that data shows these workers experience less turnover and demonstrate a high degree of loyalty and commitment to their employers and jobs. Government's approach to this problem has been to provide generalized skills training for people with disabilities, which can build both confidence and skills but serves little purpose if there are no available jobs that align with the skills that have been developed.
Our client the Ruderman Family Foundation has established inclusion for people with disabilities in the Jewish Community as one of its two key priorities. The Foundation had previously made a major commitment to making Jewish day schools accessible so that Jewish students of all abilities could attend. The Foundation has partnered with Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Jewish Vocational Services, and Hebrew SeniorLife to create Transitions to Work, a program that trains individuals for work in housekeeping and food services, two areas where there tend to be fewer employees than available jobs. The individuals are trained at Hebrew SeniorLife's NewBridge on the Charles campus and some get jobs at the campus and others get jobs at other employers.
The approach has generated so much interest that Governor Deval Patrick recently dropped by the NewBridge campus to visit with the interns being trained. At a celebratory event after the visit, covered on boston.com and elsewhere, he expressed his appreciation to the collaborators for "creating such an innovative program that will strengthen our workforce and give us the tools to compete in the global marketplace."
 | | Governor Deval Patrick with Ruderman Family Foundation President Jay Ruderman and CJP President Barry Shrage. Hebrew SeniorLife CEO Len Fishman is pictured at rear. |
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Ross Muscato Joins Ball Consulting Group as Senior Writer & Strategist
Ball Consulting Group is excited to announce an exciting addition to our team. Ross Muscato, an author and experienced communicator in the crisis communications and cause marketing realms, has joined the firm as Senior Writer & Strategist.
In 2003, Muscato co-wrote the critically acclaimed Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob, the memoir of Edward J. MacKenzie, Jr. - known on the streets as "Eddie Mac." He co-authored the book along with MacKenzie and Phyllis Karas.
Muscato has ghostwritten for executives across a variety of sectors.
Earlier in his career, Muscato worked at New York-based Robinson, Lerer & Montgomery (now RLM Finsbury) and cause marketing firm Cone Communications and worked in the Massachusetts state legislature for the Chairman of the Insurance Committee.
He will be working on varied writing and strategy projects at Ball Consulting Group including public relations and crisis communications plans, grant application narratives, and commentary and opinion pieces. Ross can be reached at ross@ballcg.com. |
Social Media a Tool in Changing Health Care Landscape
by Amelia DeCesare, Account Executive
Social media is an evolving and increasingly important tool for hospitals and other health care providers, many of which have taken to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to spread their message and mission and build followers across the globe. For the first time, press releases are being combed for the strongest 140 characters to tell their story. For patients, social media is a platform for sharing experiences - both good and bad - about a health care provider or treatment. This means that providers must work to define their space among the social media channels rather than have it defined for them. YouTube, for instance, can be an excellent tool for educating the public about specialized procedures or new therapeutic approaches.
Blogs are another opportunity to engage patients and families, by providing diagnosis- or treatment-specific content that can be located by a person searching on the web for that type of information. Patients and families can follow bloggers and create posts to discuss treatment of illnesses about which little is known, questions that might have been forgotten at the time of an appointment, and to provide comfort for others with similar circumstances.
Social media is changing daily - just look at what we have seen the last couple of months: major changes in the Google user interface; new procedures from Facebook; new tools for finding information on Twitter; and the emergence of new social media platforms, one or two of which might be the next big thing. All of this makes clear that this is not a time for health care organizations to watch and wait. |
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Thank you for your interest. If you would like to learn how Ball Consulting Group can help your business develop and deliver messages that will enable it to grow, please call 617-243-9950 or email david@ballcg.com. If you enjoy this newsletter please add it to your safe senders list so that it will arrive with graphics.
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