Get-Engaged

“No narcotics and no money kept on site” and “Made in Canada” — Two signs that seem pretty clear at first blush.

The first one, I encountered this morning while taking my youngest to a walk-in clinic this morning (he’s been running a fever of over 100 for 3 days & was having some respiratory issues). Of course, because our family is in the throes of moving between London & Kingston, we’re in Kingston & his health card is in London.

But he needs medical attention. No problem, I think - I’ve got his health card information written down. Alas, you need to produce the piece of plastic to get care, or be charged $40. That’s not a big deal though this one time, it’s only $40 - and I pull out my bank card. But this piece of plastic is not welcome. “We only accept cash,” the receptionist says.

I didn’t want to tempt fate by pointing to the sign on the front door, or the one beside her desk that declared they had no money on site.  Ugh.

The other instance was even more frustrating (and again move-related). It happened at Home Depot when I went to purchase some new carpeting. After deciding it’s likely a good idea to match the carpeting as close as possible to my chocolate lab (I do hate to vacuum, but hate the look of hair on the floor even more), I was excited to find the perfect swatch was included in a display with a proud “Made in Canada” sign above it.

Imagine my surprise when I found out the carpet was on back order for more than a month as it had to be shipped up from the textile plant in Georgia. Now, I was never much good at geography, but, the last I checked that’s not exactly “Made in Canada.”

I’ve been busy these past few weeks doing all kinds of reading up on marketing (now that I’m in a marketing & communications role for the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.) I’ve also been putting a lot of thought into the how-to deliver professional materials while being extremely frugal - it’s about ensuring donor dollars are going to patient care, equipment, education & research after all.

That lens has lead to a startling revelation in the world around me. I’m noticing at so many turns how some for-profit organizations appear to seethe waste.

UHKF staffers are officially employees of Kingston General Hospital (although we work to support all three of Kingston’s university hospitals). Which brings me back full circle as I had previously worked a KGH in the Public Affairs department for several years - leaving about four years ago for another opportunity.

Fast forward to present day, and I am back, technically, as a KGH staff member. My profile is once again active and the mail room is again delivering stuff my way. Stuff that is mass-mailed to lists that have been apparently added to over the years, but not refined. A lot of it is from the events industry - to attend conferences that have nothing to do with what I am doing today. These glossy colour brochures are plentiful, and aren’t cheap to produce or mail. And they come to me addressed to my previous role in Public Affairs. I’m going to assume this has been happening for the past four years - adding up to a lot of wasted resource by the company & recycling for the hospital!

I’ve unsubscribed from many listings, but when contact information is purchased & shared, this problem appears to run rampant. My take-away - if you spend time creating mailing lists, you need to spend even more culling them. Returned email (because I get a similar amount of addressed spam) and a touch-base with those on mailing addresses would be far cheaper than wasted print & related grief. Hard to believe those in business for profit wouldn’t already have this figured out.

I hate to say goodbye. It’s a phrase I’ve been uttering for the past three weeks, after giving my notice at the South West LHIN and accepting a new post as manager of marketing and communications at the University Kingston Hospitals Foundation. It’s a phrase I don’t want to use with my communications team members at the LHIN, my awesome colleagues and friends in the office and in the community, many of my LHIN counterparts across the province, with my family in the Aylmer and St. Thomas areas and with the many friends our family has made within the London minor football community.

So to all - it’s a see ya later. I am hoping our paths will cross again in the future. Several are reading this and are active participants in social media. I love that. We can continue to laugh across the province.

And to all of those who we said “see ya later” to in the Kingston area in December 2009 - get ready, ‘cuz family Hay is coming home! The boys are particularly eager about returning to Kingston and in checking out the Thousand Islands Minor Football League. (If anyone has any connections with them, lemme know - we’ve signed up, and have lots of volunteer time to offer!)

I’m very much looking forward to my new job at UHKF and in helping to share the important messages about our academic hospitals and the opportunities that exist through healthcare philanthrophy.

My train (quite literally) has just pulled out of Union Station on the second leg of my journey to our new life. Tomorrow is all about paperwork and enjoying a solitary day of unemployment. Then the fun begins! (Like figuring out the finer points of when and how Stu & the boys will join me in Kingston, prepping our house in London for sale, selling a car, figuring out living arrangements and finding a parking spot in downtown Kingston).

It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to re-learn the words “South-eastern” Ontario and getting my area code right. Seems like I just finally mastered similar skills in London.

I haven’t blogged in awhile. I’ve been too busy focused on paperwork - getting all sorts of official documentation in order. You see, Family Hay is packing up and heading eastward again.

I’m going to miss several great people at the South West LHIN, where I’ve worked in communications and engagement for the past two-plus years. And I’m excited to return to supporting healthcare in Kingston - this time by taking on marketing and communications with the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. I’m proud of the communications program we’ve got going at the LHIN and am thrilled by the number of people across the South West who are now participating in healthcare social media. I’m eagerly anticipating the opportunity to build a stronger voice in support of Kingston’s hospitals in the online community.

Picking up and moving across the province isn’t something new to us - but it is still a lot of work! We’ve got another house to sell, other schools to enrol in and all that. And I’m going to be commuting on weekends for a bit.

But that not all that’s new! I’m also in the application process for a Master’s of Arts in Professional Communications through Royal Roads University. All in all - it has been a fun (and exciting) time around our house lately!

Stay tuned!

clientsfromhell:

Client: I do have the logo on a Mac Disk, will that help?

Me: Please email the logo

Client: Trouble is we don’t have any Macs, and our PC’s don’t even accept floppy’s. How about I mail it to you?

Me: Are you saying the logo is on a 3.5” floppy disk?!

Client: I’ll have to double check. 

A few minutes of waiting. 

Client: The floppy disk measures 3.5 inches, yes. 

it seems you are driven to use it every snowfall - no matter how insignificant. The other day we had about a quarter-inch. The neighbour on one side of us was out with his shiny new machine, whipping up and down his driveway, proudly clearing the path. On the other side, our elderly neighbour lady simply swept the flakes off her sidewalk with a corn broom. Oh, the simpler things in life!

Just agreed to allow my oldest son to open his own Facebook account - with the proviso that he can only access it from my computer and that he friends me so I can keep tabs on him.

After two hours of getting his account established and finding a few friends, he’s already fighting me for my laptop. I mean, what the heck! This isn’t gonna end well….

After 3 years working in a LHIN (a Local Health Integration Network), I’ve become accustomed to speaking in acronyms and talking a lot about systems. There’s nothing wrong with that - except for the fact that I am about to write a special publication for everyday people (you know, like you and me, those who the health-care system is mandated to provide care for and those who pay for it through their taxes.)

So, what I want to know is what you want to read about! The South West LHIN Community Bulletin is distributed to more than 200,000 homes throughout southwestern Ontario. It is the only mass print publication we produce annually. We do have a lot of information on our website and love our YouTube channel, Twitter connections and Facebook page. Our Community Bulletin is an opportunity to reach out to some of our non-connected residents, albeit with a limited piece of print real estate. So tell me, what are the things you most like to see from us?

What do you think would be most helpful to you in learning about local health care?