Join us for the 2007 HCPRA national conference in conjunction with the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy from May 13 to 15 at Deerhurst Inn in Muskoka. It’s a beautiful setting for three days of education, networking and recognizing our colleagues at the awards gala. Full details will be in your mailbox in the next few weeks. Register early to ensure your spot at the conference that’s devoted to the needs of health care communicators across the country!

Just picture yourself! Basking in all the glory of a well-deserved win.

The 2007 HCPRA Hygeia and Hollobon Awards program is underway and you have until March 23 to enter. The Call for Entries was sent to all members in January and details can be found at www.hcpra.org under’Awards’.

Our thanks to this year’s Category Coordinators:

• Internal Newsletters — Helen Reilly, Credit Valley Hospital
• External Publications — Katie Cronin-Wood, Central East LHIN
• Annual Reports — Andrea Page, Stratford General Hospital Foundation
• Special Purpose Communication (General) — Franca Mancini, Credit Valley Hospital
• Special Purpose Communication (Fundraising) — Lisa Moses, The Mallard Group
• Multi-Media Production — Karen O’Brien Monaghan, Central East LHIN
• Strategic Communications Program — Heather Pullen, Hamilton Health Sciences
• Web Sites — Jon Begg, Kingston General Hospital
• The Hollobon Award — Stephen Harris, Fraser Health

HCPRA will be hosting a “How To Win A Hygeia” teleconference in early March to help you with your entries.

And a Nod to the Media

Don’t forget to nominate your favourite reporter for the prestigious Hollobon Award. It honours a journalist who has made a significant contribution to the understanding of health care. The deadline for entries is also March 23. Check the website for details.

Close to 60 delegates attended the session at Misericordia Health Centre in Winnipeg to hear from six speakers representing Disaster Management at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health and the Office of Disaster Management in Manitoba, Health Canada’s Emergency Preparedness and Response team, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The session was organized and chaired by Ron Hill, a Member-at-Large on the HCPRA National Executive. “This special series on Pandemic is a natural fit for HCPRA, as we all realize in our present wired information and technological world. Communications is vital and we at HCPRA are pleased to play a significant role in gathering our key stakeholders and our Pandemic experts together to share this information in an open forum.”

Our thanks to Ron and the keynote speakers for a wonderful day of dialogue.

• The BC Chapter is pleased to present Jim Mintz speaking about Social Marketing for Professional Communicators on February 21 in Vancouver. Learn how to develop a social marketing plan and gain a better understanding of the challenges and best practice in social marketing. For details, contact Stephanie Bale at stephanie.bale@fraserhealth.ca (link to PDF – attached – Jim Mintz)
  Click here for more information
• The Eastern Ontario Chapter is planning a session on the Intranet. The date will be announced shortly.
• Watch for the list of 2007 national teleconferences, coming soon.

1. Conceptual thinker - Think in terms of the bigger picture, the key principles, the concepts and the stakes attached to the specific issue or transaction. In other words think more like a 'leader' - focused on the relationships and not just the transaction.

2. 'Take away' message (sound bite) - Boil it down so that others can remember it and act upon it later.

3. Distilled thoughts - Keep each intervention in a meeting to 30 seconds at a time. Don't 'over-contribute'.

4. Bridge builder - Try to find areas of agreement with others in the meeting and build upon those.

5. Great listener - Communicate that you are listening. That means listening with your eyes, your face, your entire body language, and not just your ears.

6. Timing - Know when to come in and when to be silent. Don't measure success by how long or how often you talk. Let people admire you for your judicious silence.

7. Reasonable tone - Aim to be the most reasonable person in the room...and you just might succeed!

Barry J. McLoughlin is President and CEO of McLoughlin Media, a communications training firm with offices in Ottawa ON and Washington DC. Barry is the author of the Communicate with Power® series of pocket tips books. Barry received his Master's of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and is a former television broadcaster.

© McLoughlin Media 2007

• The Ontario Hospital Association presents its annual one-day communicators retreat on March 6 in Toronto. The session is entitled “Showcasing Hospital Excellence: Communicating with Patients, Media and the Government. For details, visit www.oha.com

• Longwoods Publishing invites HCPRA members to send in their organization's "news and views" type periodicals (PDFs by e-mail preferred). If there is enough interest, Longwoods plans to set up a web site for all periodicals received, subject to editorial review. It’s a great way to get your message out to some 35,000 nurses and administrators who are on the Longwoods eLetter distribution list. The eLetter will encourage the recipients to look at these files and it all translates to +1,000,000 recorded web site visits a year and more than 5,000,000 requests for pages. This is especially valuable in support of recruiting. For details, e-mail Anton Hart at ahart@longwoods.com

• For over a decade, the Canadian College of Health Service Executives’ (CCHSE) national awards program has been showcasing the success of exemplary individuals, teams and organizations. The CCHSE national awards program recognizes the importance of leadership, commitment and performance and provides valuable insights that are transferable and can be applied in health care organizations across Canada. CCHSE invites you to nominate a deserving individual, team or organization for a CCHSE national award. Deadline to submit your nomination is March 1. For details, visit www.cchse.org, or contact Cindy MacBride at cmacbride@cchse.org or 1-800-363-9056 ext. 13.
  

Welcome to our newest members:

• Gabriel Ahad, Montfort Hospital
• Stephen Harris, Fraser Health
• Vince Rice, West Park Healthcare Centre
• Marina Joseph, West Park Healthcare Centre
• Franca Mancini, Credit Valley Hospital
• Lisa Nowlan, CADTH
• Helaine Ortmann, Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital
• Renée Brotherton, Northeast Mental Health Centre
• Julie Kentner, Communications Services Manitoba
• Lorraine Lynch, Northern Lights Health Region
• Amy Robinet, Stratford General Hospital Foundation
• Sandy Siren, Sudbury & District Health Unit
• Jamie Lamothe, Sudbury & District Health Unit
• Warren Bickford, Vancouver Coastal Health
• Victoria Musgrave, COTA Health
• Lindsay Smylie, North Bay General Hospital
• Pamela Clarke, The Arthritis Society, BC & Yukon Division
• Jane Thomas, Consultant
• Janice Lockyer, Guysborough Strait Health Authority
• Jas Cheema, Surrey Memorial Hospital
• Stefani Venere, Toronto Grace Health Centre
• Crystal LaRose, Arnprior & District Memorial Hospital
• Debra Yearwood, Canadian Pharmacists Association
• Louise Crandall, Canadian Pharmacists Association
• Susan Therien, Canadian Pharmacists Association
  

Transitions:

• Mitra Foroutan has moved from Nova Scotia to Ontario and is now at the London Health Sciences Centre.
• Amy Ouellette has joined the Ontario Hospital Association.
• Keith Marnoch is now at York University.