work

Client:

Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital

Goal:

Build support for, and participation in, Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment research studies being conducted by the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital.

Components:

Feature story, included in both the program’s magazine and on its blog.

Results:

Today, more than 5.8 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease; by 2050 that number is expected to grow to 14 million unless new methods of prevention and treatment are found.

Research is critical to mitigating this growing scourge. But, thanks in large part to fear of the disease and misconceptions about what it means to participate in research, 90% of all Alzheimer’s clinical trials are delayed due to a lack of willing study participants.

This and other feature pieces were written based on personal, one-on-one interviews and were designed to elicit not only the facts of the story but also the motivations and emotions behind them. The story encouraged support and involvement in the program’s research by providing personal perspective and real-world context on the program’s impact.

While it’s not possible to estimate the readership of the hard copy edition, this and other feature pieces produced for the program in 2019 shared as individual posts on the Program’s blog and social media channels received nearly 5,500 page views, more than 159,000 social media impressions, and more than 13,150 user engagements.

Enrollment in the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry at Butler Hospital (which is used to source willing volunteers for ongoing and new research studies and trials) nearly tripled.

Award Winner:

Gold Award – Excellence in Writing (blog posts), 2020 NESHCo Lamplighter Awards