| Plexus Consulting Group | Success Stories | ||
| American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) |
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American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 6300 North River Road
Plexus Consulting Group, LLC |
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Vital Stats: With more than 25,000 members, the Academy is the world's largest
and most influential medical organization of orthopaedic surgeons
dedicated to providing the highest quality musculoskeletal care. The Challenge | The Solution | The Process | Unintended Consequences | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned
How to promote the specialty of orthopaedic surgery to the general public while demonstrating that orthopaedic surgeons care about their patients and communities? AAOS had done research to gauge the public's knowledge about the
orthopaedic surgery specialty and concluded that not only was there
a broad lack of knowledge about the profession but also a lack of
familiarity with orthopaedic surgeons themselves. The surgeons were
not widely viewed as the caring, professional physicians that they
are. Subsequently, AAOS set out to develop public relations programs
to define and inform the public about the specialty and also to show
that "orthopaedic surgeons care."
To leave a lasting legacy by creating safe and accessible playgrounds where kids with and without disabilities can play together. In brainstorming to develop creative programs to impact a wide public
audience, it occurred to AAOS' public relations team to pursue a playground
theme. After all, everyone loves kids. And orthopaedic surgeons spend
a good amount of their time treating kids that are injured on playgrounds
and doing surgery on kids with disabilities. How could these concepts
be integrated into a practical program that draws a wide audience
of participants and media coverage? Partnering with industry, local
municipal/community organizations and affiliated professional groups,
AAOS decided to use the annual meeting as an opportunity for the surgeons
to build a safe and accessible playground in the host city where children
with and without disabilities could play together in a safe, accessible,
supportive and festive atmosphere.
At AAOS' annual meeting, which takes place each year at different venues throughout the United States, AAOS works with KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing safe playgrounds, and local entities to select a site for the playground project. The Academy works together with industry partners, who work alongside surgeons in partnership with interested community groups such as United Cerebral Palsy and local parks and recreation organizations. The orthopaedic surgeons themselves volunteer their time to build each playground "from scratch" in the annual meeting host city in one day. The kick-off project in 2000, held in Orlando on March 14, drew more than 800 volunteers and this year's project, held in San Mateo, California on February 27, drew almost 500 volunteers. Each playground construction event features a big breakfast, lunch and music. The atmosphere is festive, teams from various contributing organizations don t-shirts and volunteers are bussed in throughout the day in two-hour intervals. Logistics for the AAOS' Safe, Accessible Playground Project encompass the following steps:
The playground project also comprises a campaign on playground safety,
and AAOS leaves signage throughout the site featuring tips on playing
safely, both in English and in Braille. At the annual meeting, the
public relations team shows a professionally produced videotape, set
to music, of the completed playground built just the day before. According
to Sandra Gordon, Director, Public and Media Relations, "our
members are very committed to this project and feel so good about
making a difference in children's lives." Sponsorship Ripple Effect Community Among Members "We thought they'd like it but didn't think they'd love it so much." To evaluate the program's success, AAOS considers member reactions and their willingness to continue support for the project budget. By all measures, the program has resonated not only with AAOS' member physicians, but touched the hearts of a wide variety of partner organizations, whose continued support of the playground project speaks volumes. Moreover, many orthopaedic state societies, upon seeing the success of the program, are now looking to build playgrounds in states and cities across the United States. Another gauge of the program's success is the increased participation
of industry partners. Quantitative data on media coverage also provide
an indication of the level of public awareness that the association
seeks to generate. The major lessons that emerged from the AAOS Safe, Accessible Playground project are:
Upon completing the playground project each year, AAOS organizers have learned to take in stride the challenge involved in having to prepare a video presentation for annual meeting opening ceremonies the following day; Sandra Gordon, Director, Public and Media Relations, stays up all night to edit the project video. While this proves exhausting, the sense of satisfaction that members experience from participating in the project makes the effort worthwhile. With regard to logistics, AAOS has learned that in order to complete the project in time for the February/March meeting, the site decision needs to be made by August of the previous year. Also, a "Design Day" has been incorporated into the planning calendar. This takes place each fall and involves a meeting with AAOS community partners, children and parents to identify what children want to see in a safe playground and to define accessibility requirements for children with disabilities. One of the greatest challenges is defining community partner responsibilities and establishing commitments for their "piece" of the project. AAOS must shepherd its community partner organizations along to ensure that they and their volunteers follow-through on their commitments. Each segment of the multifaceted event requires a great deal of coordination and collaboration. For example, the public relations effort alone requires that AAOS orchestrate various different spokespersons. AAOS has learned to develop very focused messages and talking points for all of its spokespeople to ensure seamless delivery of a consistent message to the public. Language issues also emerged when Univision, a Spanish language network, sought to cover the playground project. Because no Spanish-speaking doctors were available, AAOS had to scramble to find a Spanish-speaking industry partner to cover for the Univision interview. Finally, AAOS wants to boost the involvement of children with disabilities
and their parents in the program. While the association received significant
input from this audience for the 2000 program, there was much less
of a response by the community this year. AAOS wants to ensure that
children with disabilities are successfully integrated into the planning
process for an accessible playground environment, but cannot achieve
this goal without input and feedback from children and their parents.
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