Healthcare Copywriter: A Synopsis
It was nearly ten years ago when I began to work as a healthcare copywriter. It started with material for an annual report for a regional hospital in Western Maryland, Carrol Hospital Center. Since then there have been articles on hospital safety, back pain, bariatric surgery, Dry Eye Syndrome, and breast cancer. I’ve worked on web copy for drug and alcohol rehab clinics, corporate brochure material for a healthcare related software company and I’ve blogged on the healthcare front, too.
Here’s a selected list of articles. You’ll see the opening excerpt and a link to the full piece.
To Age is Human | Md.MD Magazine
As demographic shifts go, this one qualifies as tectonic: In little more than a generation, the United States added three decades to the average American’s life span. As we barrel along the nation’s roadways behind 85 year old drivers, and jog alongside our 67 year old neighbor, (with the two new knees) it’s hard to fathom that in 1900 the average American lived only to the ripe age of forty-seven. Today – due largely to improved sanitation measures, better medical care and disease prevention — that same person lives for roughly 77 years and the trend (with some caveats) continues upward. Read the entire piece here >>
What’s Ailing Your Back? | Md.MD Magazine
If you’re an American adult between, say, 30 and 50, chances are you belong to a highly inclusive, fast growing club. You, and millions like you, have had a bout with back pain. Perhaps you’re lucky and pain free at the moment, but you’ve been there or know someone who has. Back pain follows close behind headaches and colds as the most frequent reason that people visit their doctors and stay home from work. Read the entire piece here >>
Breaking The Code to Hospital Safety | Md.MD Magazine
The young man in 208 was badly hurt in a construction accident. He’s a non-English speaker and has no medical history to draw from. A just arrived elderly patient suffering from dementia takes a dozen medications, none of which she can identify by name. A premature baby girl born last night has multiple medical conditions requiring specialists from several disciplines. The boy in the emergency department has a virus that is contagious. Not handled properly it could spread to other patients. A very sick child has just been transferred from another institution and the medical information that arrives with him conflicts with information his family provides. Read the entire piece here >>
The New Carroll Hospital Center | Carroll Hospital Center, Westminster, MD
Like proud parents with a newborn, we traveled a well worn path. Only a perfect name would do. The moment at hand suggested continuity and identity, but most of all, change. Carroll County General Hospital is growing. As a result, we have outgrown our original name and today we become Carroll Hospital Center. A new name yes, but the same caring network of medical professionals with a wider array of diagnostic services, treatment options and patient support systems than ever before. Read the entire piece here >>.
The New Carroll Hospital Bed Tower | Carroll Hospital Center, Westminster, MD
Can a certain type of hospital room help you recover more quickly if you fall ill? The answer, surprisingly, is yes, if designed, as Carroll Hospital Center’s spacious, new private rooms are, with your privacy, comfort and dignity firmly in mind. In the finest tradition of institutional transformation, Carroll Hospital Center has just completed a remarkable sea change in its approach to patient care. Until today, Carroll Hospital Center could claim just 30% of it’s rooms as private, but with the opening of the new patient bed tower, Carroll Hospital Center is now an 80% private room hospital. While privacy and confidentiality were paramount to the overall concept, a number of other well thought out factors shaped the new building’s design. Ms. Leslie Simmons, RN, Carroll Hospital Center’s Vice-President of Patient Care Services for the last three years, is an experienced hospital administrator and she spoke recently of the bed tower’s pod design, paperless patient records, the time that nurses spend with patients and why Carroll Hospital Center is a more attractive workplace for nurses than ever before. Read the entire piece here>>
The Breast Center at Carroll Hospital | Carroll Hospital Center, Westminster, MD
Through a specifically tailored, comprehensive program, The Breast Center provides a full range of the latest diagnostic and therapeutic options available in the detection and treatment of breast cancer. Located in The Women’s Place at Carroll Hospital Center (CHC), The Breast Center combines a distinguished medical team, leading technologies, extensive support and educational resources, with a deeply caring approach to ensure your utmost dignity and confidence. Established with many of our community partners, services provided by The Breast Center are free of charge and available the moment you walk through our doors. An exceptional place for women’s health, The Breast Center is a supportive, patient-focused environment where a skilled and compassionate team serves the health and well being of all our patients. Read the entire piece here >>
Getting Better Close to Home | Cancer Treatment at Carroll Hospital Center
A diagnosis of cancer has few equals in its ability to shake the earth beneath us. Adding to the tremors that a diagnosis can bring, a lack of information often gives rise to much fear and anxiety. But newly diagnosed residents of Carroll County might take some comfort in the following : the emergence of successful new therapies, a virtual explosion of readily accessible information on cancer, the proliferation of rigorous treatment standards and the skill and commitment of medical professionals such as those at Carroll Hospital Center’s Oncology unit and its on-campus partner, Carroll County Cancer Center. By providing much-needed information, and a highly supportive, leading edge treatment environment, these cancer treatment centers are helping patients find the confidence, encouragement and strategies they need to manage and triumph over this treatable disease. Read the entire piece here >>