What does the “H” mean in healthcare? Many healthcare organizations, along with our State Association (Minnesota Hospital Association), have been discussing the same question. To answer this question we have to understand the difference between healthcare of the past, what it has transitioned into presently, and what we believe will be its transformation into the future.
Healthcare of the past was focused on inpatient care with less emphasis on preventative care; present healthcare is more focused on preventative care and less inpatient care; and we believe that future healthcare will remain focused on preventative care emphasizing the need for a holistic approach in meeting patient needs, both inside and outside of the facility.
With this in mind, we recognized that our name, Windom Area Hospital, did not identify with all the services we currently offer nor any of the services that we may have in the future. When you think of the word ‘hospital’, most people think inpatient care. “Our goal is to accurately reflect our services in our new name, Windom Area Health, to ensure we are able to successfully market our organization when pursuing new opportunities for future growth and expansion,” states Shelby Medina, Windom Area Health CEO.
While the launch of the rebrand will start January 1, 2019, it is anticipated that most of the changes will take a year to implement and some of the larger signs will take a period of years to replace. Emily Masters, CHRO, explains, “We have committed to a ‘soft’ launch of the new brand. Over time, materials, forms, websites, systems, and signage will be updated. This strategy is twofold; we want to be responsible with our dollars as a non-profit entity and not be wasteful with items we already have and, since the name and logo is an evolution versus a drastic change, we felt this would not create too much confusion.”
Internally, WAH employees are busy updating email signatures, voicemails and forms as they run out. Emily Masters comments, “Outside of the business cards, pens and brochures one might think of when considering a brand update, there is a long list of items that we will be tackling over the next year including our logo on our bills, checks, electronic medical record (EMR), computer screens, and patient packets.”
As we move to implement the new Windom Area Health name and logo, the public can expect to see some changes immediately, but some that come over time.
Some of the rebranding that the community will see now includes:
- Updated logo/name on our website. A redesign of the website is scheduled for this summer to update the look and colors to match the new logo.
- Updated social media page names. If you already follow or ‘like’ us, no need to do anything, our name will automatically update.
- Ads will run in local papers and radio stations. We will continue to run ads in local papers through January, and radio ads through March.
- If you are a vendor, you should have received a letter in the mail with a new W-9. The name change is officially a ‘doing business as’ change, versus a legal name change.
- A web news story will appear on our website, which will be shared via social media.
- Windom Area Health will be hosting the first inaugural Chamber Connections on January 24th from 8am-9am in the cafeteria. This new format of ‘chamber coffee’ has a new time and is more interactive for attendees.
If you are connected with a community organization that has used the Windom Area Hospital logo in the past and needs to update your information or logo, please contact Emily Saffert at [email protected].