Baptist Health wanted to encourage people with diabetes, heart disease, mental illnesses and others that were considered a “higher-risk” during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep their appointments and procedures, and to ease fear and concern during the unprecedented time.

Background

During a pandemic, nothing is normal and things constantly change. Baptist Health wanted to create a way to ease fears and uncertainty in the community about the pandemic and communicate processes and protocols the health system was taking to keep physician offices and hospitals safe as well as bring attention to warnings and symptoms that shouldn’t be overlooked/when to seek medical care immediately.

Reasoning

COVID-19 presented an uncertain environment for the community, especially for healthcare providers. Many people had to cancel appointments and screenings in the Spring of 2020 when the hospital and physician offices were shut down due to the pandemic. The community needed to be encouraged to come back to the hospital, physician offices and to keep their appointments and screenings going forward to keep abreast of treatment and diagnosis.

Challenges

Communicating to the community that it was OK to come back to physician offices and to not let any underlying medical problem be ignored for fear of contracting COVID-19 at the hospital and physician offices.