2013 PSAs Feature Patient Stories

Patient engagement website offers opportunity to promote real-life benefits

Peter Pollack

Over the past 13 years, the AAOS public service announcement (PSA) program has offered the Academy an opportunity to develop unique partnerships with dozens of other medical associations as well as orthopaedic specialty societies. The 2013 campaign is no exception, as AAOS has partnered with five specialty societies to help bring to the public an understanding of the value of orthopaedics.

This year’s PSAs tie in with the Academy’s successful A Nation in Motion campaign, which has as its centerpiece a website where patients and healthcare providers can tell their stories.

“Is your body holding you back?”
The highlight of the 2013 campaign is a series of radio and television spots called “Body Double.” The television version features vignettes of various people as they prepare to engage in physical activity—a woman wants to go running; a waiter intends to lift a heavy tray filled with food; a groom prepares to sweep the bride off her feet and carry her into their hotel room. In each scene, the character is confronted with a duplicate of him- or herself who discourages the intended activity.

“Is your body holding you back?” the announcer asks. The coda of each scene displays the duplicate receiving a humorous comeuppance while the character successfully engages in the chosen activity. “Fight for your mobility,” declares the announcer. “Find your own inspiration at ANationInMotion.org.”

The radio versions, available in 30- and 60-second variants, follow a similar format, with characters attempting to golf and open a jar. “Don’t let your body hold you back,” the announcer states. “A lot of people in pain choose to fight for their mobility. Read their stories and find your own inspiration at ANationInMotion.org.”

Stories of inspiration
The print portion of the PSA campaign features actual patient stories drawn from the A Nation in Motion website. Each of the five print ads was produced in partnership with an orthopaedic specialty society—the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS), the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA), the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA).

Print ads are headlined “What would you do” and describe the situation faced by an actual patient. In a simple sentence or two, the ads make the point that advances in orthopaedic surgery and a determined patient resulted in an outstanding outcome.

Each ad also includes the tagline “Fight for your mobility” and both the AAOS and specialty society logos. The ads encourage readers to read the patients’ stories and “find your own inspiration at ANationInMotion.org.”

Five patient stories are featured in the print ads. They include the following:

Terry DeWald—a mountain guide who had both knees replaced and underwent rotator cuff surgery (ad partnership with AAHKS)
Merline Love—a woman injured in a kickball game, who faced possible amputation but was instead treated with physical therapy and anterior cruciate ligament repair (ad partnership with AOSSM)
Logan Shaw—a young man who was hit by a car while riding a go-cart and underwent rehabilitation for spinal cord injury (ad partnership with ASIA)
Gabriela Pierobon Mays—a 9-year-old girl injured in a playground accident who returned to competitive swimming after distal radius fracture (ad partnership with POSNA)
Ari Steinfeld—a man whose right leg was crushed when he was hit by a car, who was able to walk down the aisle at his wedding 8 months later, after undergoing four bone-healing surgeries (ad partnership with OTA)

Michael F. Schafer, MD, chair of the Communications Cabinet, is proud that these campaigns were done in collaboration with specialty societies. “It’s important for the AAOS to work with the specialty societies on these PSAs to promote these issues to the public,” says Dr. Schafer. “It demonstrates unity and shows the impact of orthopaedic specialty care.”

The campaigns also promote health and safety and demonstrate the role of the orthopaedic surgeon as an advocate for a patient’s well being. “As orthopaedic surgeons, we can deliver a strong public health message,” Dr. Schafer says. “We care about our patients, and we would rather prevent injuries than treat them.”

Print ads are also produced as posters, desktop easel-back signs, and postcards. All are available upon request to state and specialty societies as well as to individual AAOS members. The posters, signs, and postcards can be used by Academy members in their practices or in a variety of public relations applications. All materials are available free of charge, with users asked only to pay the cost of shipping.

The AAOS PSA campaign ads are sent to more than 9,000 print, television, and radio outlets nationwide and are distributed to airports and outdoor advertising companies. Physicians and orthopaedic societies interested in receiving copies of the ads should contact the AAOS public relations department at 847-384-4036, or via e-mail at publicrelations@aaos.org

2013 Annual Meeting News
Tuesday through Friday, February 19 – 23, 2013.
http://www.aaos.org/news/acadnews/2013/AAOS1_3_21.asp