The October issue of O’Dwyer’s magazine included Boardroom Communications in the 2010 rankings of  healthcare & medical PR firms. O’Dwyer’s is the nation’s leading public relations and marketing communications publication. Each month the magazine focuses on a specific industry and informs readers of current trends, marketing strategies and industry related issues. This month’s issue focused on the healthcare industry, which gave readers an inside look on new regulations, challenges and marketing approaches. The magazine also includes an annual ranking of top healthcare and medical PR firms, where Boardroom Communications was ranked top 50. Boardroom was also included in O’Dwyer’s Guide to Healthcare Communications, where the magazine included a profile describing Boardroom’s services and expertise with the industry.

Tenet Healthcare hospitals in Palm Beach County received widespread TV coverage for their assistance to the Haitian people following the devastating earthquake in January 2010. Boardroom Communications stayed in constant contact with the newsrooms of network affiliates to supply information on incoming patients and doctors who traveled to the island nation to provide emergency care.

Three doctors from Delray Medical Center quickly mobilized and traveled to Haiti to treat the injured. Doctors from Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach and West Boca Medical Center in southern Palm Beach County also went to help with recovery efforts. Delray Medical Center and St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach received injured Haitians who were flown for treatment.

In all, there were more than a dozen news reports and newspaper media placements in two languages on local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC newscasts, as well local print media, during a three-week period. Boardroom generated a majority of the stories, keeping the news flowing to reporters and assignment desk editors. Here’s a rundown on the news reports:

• On Jan. 14, WPBF (ABC-Channel 25) aired a story on preparations at Delray Medical Center for an influx of Haitian medical refugees.
• On Jan. 18, WPEC (CBS-Channel 12) aired a report about three Haitian patients being treated at St. Mary’s Medical Center in which doctors were interviewed.
• On Jan. 27, WPEC and WPTV (NBC-Channel 5) aired a report about Dr. Anthony Dardano, Dr. Louis DeLuca and Dr. Lloyd Zucker of Delray Medical Center leaving for a medical mission to Haiti. Dardano and DeLuca are plastic surgeons; Zucker is a neurosurgeon.
• On Jan 31, WPTV aired a Spanish-language news program, “Con la Communidad,” that featured a report on Drs. Dardano, Zucker and DeLuca’s mission to Haiti.
• Also on Jan. 31, WPTV reported that Good Samaritan Medical Center’s Dr. Jean Monice was headed to Haiti on a medical mission.
• On Feb. 2 WFLX (Fox-Channel 29) ran a story on the return from Haiti of doctors from Delray Medical Center.
• Also on Feb. 2, WPEC aired a live shot on its noon news in front of St. Mary’s Medical Center as part of a report on new Haitian patients that arrived for treatment.
• And on Feb. 2, WPTV led its 11 p.m. newscast with a report on injured Haitians arriving at Palm Beach International Airport and being taken to hospitals including Delray and St. Mary’s medical centers. WFLX also had a late news report.
  
• On Feb. 2, WPTV aired an interview with a Haitian patient at Delray Medical Center and the center’s trauma director, Michelle Sutton-Epps.
• On Feb. 3, WPBF aired a report on the return from Haiti of the doctors from Delray Medical Center, as did WFLX.
• And WPBF reported on the return of Dr. Kenneth Jeffers of West Boca Medical Center from a second trip to Haiti to provide emergency treatment.
  

As for local print media, the Palm Beach Post ran several stories on the hospital’s involvement with treating Haitian victims, collecting supplies, as well as doctors and nurses traveling to provide medical care:

• Palm Beach Post, Jan. 18, “Local employers lend support to Haitian workers”
• Palm Beach Post, Jan. 18, “PBC hospitals treating at least 6 Haitian quake victims”
• Palm Beach Post, Jan. 31, “Florida hospitals handling hundreds of Haiti victims”
• Palm Beach Post, Jan. 31, “Haiti in relief: a reporter’s notebook”
• South Florida Hospital News, Feb issue, “St. Mary’s Medical Center treats 3 victims from Haiti Earthquake”