North Oaks Initiatives Honored by Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations & Marketing

The North Oaks Business Development team garnered four Pelican Awards at the Annual ThreeSixtyEight Pelican Awards hosted by the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing (LSHPRM) Nov. 9 at the Baton Rouge Marriott.

The society also honored North Oaks Marketing Director Shantel Johnson with the “Marketer of the Year” Golden Pelican Award.

Johnson joined the North Oaks team as a market strategist/business development representative in 2012 and was promoted to marketing director in 2014. Recognized as North Oaks’ Leader of the Month in May 2017, she directs a department that functions as an in-house advertising agency and communications firm for the health system.

Under her tutelage, the North Oaks Business Development team has achieved advances in social media, targeted marketing strategies and community engagement in the past year. In addition to North Oaks ranking in the top three large health systems for most awards received at the 2017 LSHPRM Pelican Awards, the North Oaks website was recognized nationally with a Best Site Design Distinction Award at the 18^th Annual eHealthcare Leadership Awards. Also, digital campaigns have yielded an additional 20 percent increase in website traffic during the past year.

“Shantel has a calm, confident countenance and a generous spirit. Collaborating with her is a joy,” affirms Tracy Randazzo, vice president of strategy and outreach for North Oaks Health System. “An excellent manager and marketer, her passion for mentoring future leaders at North Oaks and within the community makes her even more special.”

On the community front, Johnson served as the 2017-18 president of the Tangipahoa Professional Women’s Organization, a group she has nurtured through various leadership roles for the last several years. She was selected to be keynote speaker at the organization’s 2018 “Women Mean Business Conference,” where she received a standing ovation for her presentation “How to Reconnect with Yourself and Prosper.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of New Orleans. Also, she participated in and graduated from Leadership Tangipahoa in 2017.

As a team, North Oaks received two Pelican Awards in the “Publications” category for its CommUnity and Heartbeat newsletters.

CommUnity is an external newsletter published three times annually, which reaches an average of more than 58,000 households per issue. North Oaks has produced it for 18 years to deliver timely medical information, health tips and preventive topics. It is also instrumental in publicizing community health screenings, educational classes and support group meetings.

Heartbeat is an internal staff newsletter published quarterly for 33 years. It serves as a vehicle for employee, physician and volunteer recognition and important health system updates.

Pelican Awards also were earned for North Oaks Medical Center’s first annual “Prepared for the Unexpected” Trauma Symposium and North Oaks Primary Care’s “No Time to be Sick” advertising campaign.

The hospital’s Level II Trauma Center hosted the “Prepared for the Unexpected” Trauma Symposium in partnership with North Oaks Foundation and Southeastern Louisiana University’s School of Nursing Nov. 3, 2017. Several regional and local leaders with expertise in trauma care headlined the symposium with the goal of providing national caliber education for 200 trauma providers working in the region. Feedback indicated that 95 percent of attendees agreed that their educational needs were fully met, and the symposium is now an annual event.

With North Oaks responsible for a region deemed medically underserved in terms of primary care, the health system went to great lengths to create more access by hiring six additional providers and adding/restructuring clinics in the past year. The subsequent, award-winning, multimedia “No Time to be Sick” advertising campaign was launched with impressive results. New patients increased by 15 percent because of the campaign’s efforts to generate awareness of the additional providers, new clinic locations and the importance of annual well visits to staying healthy.

LSHPRM is a constituency group of the Louisiana Hospital Association. LSHPRM sponsors the Pelican Awards annually to recognize and encourage improvement in quality, effectiveness and impact of hospital communications, public relations and marketing. This year, 28 health care organizations were recognized with awards given in 34 categories.

The North Oaks Business Development team garnered four Pelican Awards at the Annual ThreeSixtyEight Pelican Awards program hosted by the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing (LSHPRM) Nov. 9 at the Baton Rouge Marriott.