Deez Interviews: Meet the health communicator who A) does not approve of Juul and B) also would like to remind you it’s “health care” in AP style

Happy Friday, Deezers! Today’s interview dives into the health communications space by way of Colette Rector, who’s based at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She talked to us about the importance of getting all that good research out into the world, the difference between her job and good ol’ hospital PR, and flavored tobacco. Enjoy!

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The interviewee: Colette Rector (follow her at @colettewithonel)

The gig: PolicyLab communications associate at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The hustle:

PolicyLab is a research center that focuses on health policy and health services research. Which means that we have a bunch of half clinician/half researchers who study issues as far-ranging as immigrant and refugee health, reducing pre-K suspension (because that's a thing) and understanding teens’ e-cigarette use (Juul is bad, bad is Juul).

Hypothetically, all of our research could inform some sort of policy or program change. My job is to figure out how our research could have impact, how a communications tactic could support that impact and then translate and disseminate that research for the appropriate audience. This means blogging, tweeting, putting together research briefs, writing newsletters, making videos, etc.

ALSO just to clarify: my department is segmented out from the broader hospital PR/marketing departments. We’re kind of our own independent one-stop-shop, which is not normally the case at larger hospitals. I really like what we can do as an independent entity.

Before this, you worked in public affairs at the Mayo Clinic. What drew you to working in the health care space?

I like health comms, particularly in the vein of public health, health policy and health services research, because that broader positive impact is so much more tangible.

It also gives me an ear to the ground on so many issues and debates that are happening in the world right now. Before this job, I had literally never heard of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Turns out that (~cranks up the talking points machine~) 9 million kids in working families rely on it for low-cost, high-quality coverage. Nine million! I had never heard of it!

How can a comms job in healthcare be different than any other comms job?

I think the translation piece is the most critical and distinct part of a health care comms job. The public is generally familiar with the clients that you’d be working on at an agency, or at least people know the products they’re marketing. People aren’t as familiar with epigenetics, precision medicine and how a line item in a state Medicaid budget could make the difference between seeing a therapist for free or seeing a therapist for $150.

You also have to be persuasive in a different way; I may not be trying to get you to buy that juicy cheeseburger, but I still have to figure out how to compel a Republican-led state senate to support a ban on flavored tobacco.

Who’s your audience?

Policymakers! Fellow researchers! Doctors! Parents! Journalists! The whole shebang.

Really, it depends on the research itself. For example, some of our research is very specific to how different state-run programs are serving families in Pennsylvania; that research matters for pretty much only the state government folks who are running those programs here and in states like ours. That’s maybe like, a couple dozen people across the country.

Therefore, we package that information differently for them than we do our research on Medicaid, immigrant health and other broad-reaching topics.

Talk to us more about the role that public affairs/communications departments play in the health care landscape.

The PR and marketing departments at a hospital serve a number of different roles. (Remember, I’m separate from that department at CHOP.) Their job is to manage the reputation of the institution and share all of the amazing clinical care and research that’s happening inside our very colorful walls. Ultimately, they help get people — and money (from insurers, patients, the NIH, that lemonade stand you saw in the ‘burbs, etc.) — in the door.

My job is partially brand reputation management, but it’s more fundamentally about getting that research in the right hands. A lot of research ends up sitting in a journal somewhere and doesn’t really have an impact beyond bolstering the reputation of that specific researcher in their field. We have a lot of really great data that could be used to inform health policy in this country, but it’s not accessible to the people who could do something about it unless people are on the front lines explaining why it matters.

Finally, what's the most common mistake you've seen the media make when talking about health care?

I think one of the biggest problems can be framing issues in terms of whether a political party is winning or losing instead of how that issue impacts real people; i.e., is your headline “Republicans Win Big By Repealing Individual Mandate” or is your headline “Estimated 10 Million People Will Lose Health Insurance” or whatever. This plagues many domestic public policy debates, but I think the life-or-death stakes are inherently different in health policy.

Finally finally, do you spell it health-care or is it healthcare or is it health care?????

Drum roll please …….. health care! Two words diverged by a single space … and AP style took the road less traveled, and that has driven health communicators crazy for pretty much forever.

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That’s it for this week! Have a good weekend, Deezers.

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