“Safe Care, Your Way” Branding and Communication Campaign
Unity Point’s “Safe Care, Your Way” campaign is intended to build trust within its community that its clinicians are ready to care safely for patients, wherever and whenever they need. This is an essential part of building trust in the COVID-19 era, as patients need reassurance and guidance about when and how to seek care as the pandemic continues. How does this build trustworthiness? Providing safe services and communicating about and addressing patient concerns and preferences – “knowing your patients”—all build confidence in their delivery system.
How It Works
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the health care system in ways we could not have imagined. Our care facilities look and feel different. Wearing our PPE, our providers look different too. Our communities need reassurance and guidance about when and how to seek care as we continue to face the pandemic. We wanted to help our patients know we have been making changes in order to provide a safe, caring and reassuring environment.
As part of our brand promise to provide easier and more personal care, all of our UnityPoint Clinic locations received a “care experience box” to help the clinic take care experience to the next level. The box contained materials and prompts to help tell the story of our commitment to the safety and care of our patients, guests and team members. The materials include items like exam room table tents that indicate the room has been cleaned, an infographic of creative ways to safely greet patients, and a heart icon that shows up in many places throughout the visit as a sign of reassurance that we’re here to care. The box also included instructions for action and explained to our team members how to make use of the materials in their clinic/department. We know small, intentional gestures go a long way. Our patients notice the details, especially those that show we are concerned about their safety. These materials are just another way for us to build deep connections with those we serve through thoughtful touches.
Our brand messaging also pivoted to build trust in the community. As we face times of uncertainty, fear, and confusion, the branding team knew it was important to update our messaging to reflect new realities and bring people back to the care they need. “Safe Care, Your Way” highlights our commitment to being here for patients, wherever and whenever they need us. We are safe and ready to care for people, whether in their homes through virtual care or in our facilities.
Skills and Competencies
This practice relies on all members of the team being committed to focusing on experience. Now, more than ever, doing things the way we’ve always done them will not cut it. Every single moment and every single interaction give us the opportunity to build trust with our community. The “Safe Care, Your Way” campaign is just words and phrases if there is not visible action and commitment from our teams to deliver on what we’re communicating.
Origins
As the pandemic worsened, our communities were met with conflicting messages. The constant drum beat of “stay home” and messages about the stress our health care workers were (and are) under led many people to believe that seeking care was not advised, even reckless. While we know staying home and minimizing risk to alleviate the burden on our inpatient colleagues was important, we knew it was coming at the expense of people delaying care or avoiding medically necessary attention. There was trepidation about whether it was safe to go anywhere, including health care facilities. This campaign came to be because we recognized a need for a “PSA” style connection to our community that taking care of your health is important, and we are well-equipped to care for you safely. The result was an opportunity to build trust with the people who rely on us to take care of them.
Effectiveness
We have anecdotal evidence from patients who, upon seeking care, indicated how reassured they were that we are doing everything possible to keep them safe. Our outpatient clinic volumes and virtual care volumes reflect that patients are seeking care and trust that we’re able to care for them in a way that they’re most comfortable with.
Scalability
The “Safe Care, Your Way” brand and communication is used across our organization which spans three states and many sites of care. The practice is scalable with commitment from teams to utilize the messaging and communication.