Atlantic Medical Group welcomes patients back into doctor’s offices with a healthy cookbook
Now more than ever, physician marketing strategies need to adapt. No one knows that better than Kristin Ferrara, Marketing Specialist for Atlantic Medical Group, the physician enterprise of Atlantic Health System based in Morristown, New Jersey.
Back in January, Ms. Ferrara found and ordered the perfect giveaway for a spring fundraising event to benefit Morristown Medical Center—7,500 healthy cookbooks customized with the Atlantic Medical Group brand.
Atlantic Medical Group’s Healthy You cookbooks are filled with more than 100 mouthwatering meals with easy-to-make recipes for heart-healthy and diabetic diets. The cookbook is a great resource for patients and the community to help people eat fresh and cut back on sugar and saturated fats.
“Giving the cookbook to our patients shows we’re well-rounded as a health care organization,” says Ms. Ferrara. “It ties back to our mission of focusing on preventive care which starts in our homes and our kitchens. Good nutrition combined with preventive screenings and monitoring blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) all lead to a healthier life.”
But as the days and weeks ticked by, circumstances in New Jersey and around the world drastically changed. COVID-19 forced The Women’s Association of Morristown Medical Center to postpone the month-long event that would draw 30,000 people and raise funds for the expansion of the hospital’s Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute.
Time to pivot. If the community couldn’t come to them, Atlantic Health decided to bring Healthy You cookbooks to the community using the health system’s extensive network of physician’s practices. The marketing team began delivering boxes of cookbooks to their more than 300 physician practices for patients as they returned to the office following the COVID crisis.
Healthy You cookbooks are a brand-building tool that patients will use again and again – with a convenient “Find a Doctor” QR code on the customized back cover. The healthy cookbooks will also be used as a patient education resource for diabetes management programs and cholesterol control initiatives.
“Healthy eating is one of the first lines of defense in building a strong immune system, something that is especially top of mind during coronavirus,” says Ferrara, who noted that the cookbooks have been delivered at a great time for patients.
“Aside from the nutritional component, we’re hearing from patients that they simply welcome new recipe ideas after the long months of stay-at-home orders and too many of the same home-cooked meals.”
