1996
People stories that saved lives
The origins of MedMarketLInk date to 1996, two years after the founding of Denver-based Vanguard Communications. Launched in 1994 as an integrated marketing communications firm (advertising, public relations and marketing planning), Vanguard stepped into the health care arena when two Colorado non-profit organizations hired the company to promote organ and tissue donation.At the time, Colorado had the fastest growing waiting list for organ donations. Vanguard initially developed a series of publicity campaigns to deliver this message to the Rocky Mountain press.
Doubling Organ Donation RatesSince every health care story is really a people story, all the publicity campaigns were tied to the people on the waiting list. With real names and faces to profile, the news media of Colorado and Wyoming responded enthusiastically with non-stop coverage of this health crisis and the humans affected by the wait for donated life. |
1999
The world takes note
Due in much part to Vanguard's success in promoting organ donation, Denver fertility physician William Schoolcraft asked the firm for help with a case that was still unknown to the world but one that he knew would likely draw much attention soon – and probably heated controversy along with it.
One of Dr. Schoolcraft's patients had just become pregnant through a brand-new diagnostic process called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Used with in vitro fertilization (IVF), PGD allows doctors to create embryos in the laboratory so that they can be biopsied and examined for genetic diseases.
Although PGD is a common procedure today, very few outside a small medical circle knew of its powerful capabilities prior to the 21st century. In 1998, a long personal journey led Denver couple Jack and Lisa Nash to Dr. Schoolcraft in hopes of PGD's use to help them conceive a child free of a genetic disease that ran in their family, Fanconi's anemia.
Baby Adam saves sister Molly
At the time, the Nashes' five-year-old daughter, Molly, had been born with Fanconi's anemia. Molly suffered severe birth defects that included partial deafness, poorly-formed vital organs and stunted arms and hands. Because her disease is usually fatal by age 8, Molly's parents knew they had little time to explore possible treatments.
Lisa Nash's experience as a professional nurse put her on a quest toward the latest genetics technology. Eventually the Nashes found their way to and worked with Dr. Schoolcraft to create several embryos through IVF, and through PGD, a disease-free embryo was selected for uterine implantation.
In August 2000, healthy baby Adam Nash was born in a Minnesota hospital so that Fanconi specialists could transfer his umbilical cord blood to Molly. The procedure saved Molly's life, and today she is a happy high school student.
A PR plan that accentuated the positive
Adam Nash is generally recognized as one of the first of the so-called "savior babies" – children who are conceived disease-free in order to help an older sibling. Vanguard had begun working with Dr. Schoolcraft on the Molly Nash case before her birth, in part preparing a public relations plan to deal with a potential uproar over the ethics of Adam's conception and birth.
While there were indeed a few critics of the Nash family's decision, overwhelmingly supportive messages poured in from around the globe, thanks to worldwide publicity. Vanguard's strategic communications plan was built on the Nashes; personal ordeal and stark life-and-death choices for their daughter.
The plan worked beautifully, with highly sympathetic and emotionally moving news profiles of the Nash family in media as far flung as Japan, France, Australia and Brazil.
2005
Coast-to-coast client practices
Vanguard went on to manage publicity for Dr. Schoolcraft on an ongoing basis. As a result of Vanguard's work helping build Schoolcraft's fame, in 2003, the publicly-traded company IntegraMed America asked Vanguard to become its first and only PR firm for its network of fertility practices.
As its success in building physician reputations grew, Vanguard soon expanded into other medical specialties. At the same time, having worked in Web development, online marketing and management since 1996, Vanguard simultaneously grew its Web-marketing capabilities for private medical practices.
The firm now helps to generate thousands of new patients through its combined Web and PR programs for practices from Seattle to Miami.
Year after year, Vanguardʼs MedMarketLink program has successfully built medical practice success on a dual foundation:
- Online patient education
- Online and offline reputation building for doctors and practices
2012
Building reputation & trust online
In today's Internet age, patients often begin building relationships with their doctors on the Web first. The doctors who give the best information fastest and free are the ones they trust first and most.To ignite that relationship in the initial, meet-the-doctor-at-arms-length stage, we build a medical online library for each practice. Providing ample online patient education resources accomplishes two goals:
- An online health library gives Internet search engines a larger, more visible target and thus better search rankings, ultimately drawing many more prospective patients into the practice store front.
- Rich health information gives visitors additional reasons to stay longer on the site, in turn nurturing the ever-important initial relationship between physicians and prospective patients.
| . |