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California Poison Control System Wins Medical Marketing Association Top Award

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 15:06 CDT

The California Poison Control System (CPCS) has won the 2007 International Award of Excellence (IN-AWE) from the Medical Marketing Association and the Coalition for Healthcare Communicators for its outstanding consumer marketing campaign. The IN-AWE Award is the most prestigious award for marketing and communications in the area of health care.

The judges, who selected the winners from more than 800 entries from 160 companies in the U.S. and Canada, chose the CPCS consumer campaign "Don't Guess. Be Sure." as the year's best in the public service/integrated marketing category based on "powerful strategy, creative execution and measurable results."

Historically, parents in low-English proficient and low-income communities nationwide experience low awareness and use of poison control services. To address this problem, the CPCS created an integrated, consumer-friendly, multilingual, culturally relevant, and literacy-appropriate campaign based on extensive research. Easy to read brochures with refrigerator magnets, information cards with telephone stickers, a CD ROM, and baby greeting cards were developed in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese and distributed free of charge.

"We are honored to receive this prestigious award from the Medical Marketing Association," said Iana Simeonov, director of program development, CPCS. "Our campaign has resulted in a 25 percent increase in the number of calls among the non-English speaking community in California, which means we are sending a clear message to consumers while also taking some strain off already burdened emergency services."

The California Poison Control System is available to consumers and health professionals 24/7 by calling 1-800-222-1222 and staffed by trained and certified pharmacists, nurses and Poison Information Providers. The service is free, confidential and interpreters are available. Materials are available at www.calpoison.org.

The CPCS has four divisions located at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco, Children's Hospital Central California in Fresno/Madera and the UC San Diego Medical Center in San Diego. The CPCS is administered by the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Pharmacy and responsible to the California Emergency Medical Services Authority. "Don't Guess. Be Sure" is funded through a grant from the Health Resources Services Administration's Poison Control Bureau.

Source: Business Wire

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