Company: Home Instead Senior Care, Omaha, NE
Entry Submitted By: FleishmanHillard, Albers Communications and Immersion Active
Company Description: Home Instead Senior Care® is a global provider of nonmedical in-home care for seniors with 1,000 independently owned franchises. Franchises provide 50 million hours of care annually throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Finland, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico and China.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Reputation/Brand Management

Nomination Title: Addressing the Needs of the Rapidly Growing Alzheimer’s Population and Family Caregivers

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2013 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Thirty-six million people have Alzheimer’s/dementia worldwide. Millions more care for them. Experts predict cases will reach 115 million by 2050, creating a global health crisis. Because most with Alzheimer’s/dementia receive in-home care, families will feel enormous strain. U.S. family caregivers provide 17.5 billion hours of unpaid Alzheimer’s/dementia care worth $216.4 billion.* And, 60% rate their caregiving stress as high or very high.**

Home Instead Senior Care (HISC) is on the front lines of Alzheimer’s/dementia. Half its clients have the diseases; its professional CAREGiversSM complete specialized training to meet their needs. HISC also offers free family-caregiver resources and trainings enabling it to underscore the need for its services among potential clients.

While HISC had an important perspective to offer Alzheimer’s/dementia discussions, the space was very crowded. HISC needed to position itself as an Alzheimer’s-care leader to effectively promote its services.

Development

Research showed an opportunity to highlight HISC’s expertise by addressing support gaps among family caregivers and specialized-care demand:

•Boomer Project and SIR Research surveys found 50% of HISC clients had Alzheimer’s/dementia and 95% of people caring for someone with the diseases said specialized services were important when choosing a caregiver provider

•Alzheimer’s Association data showed HISC clients with Alzheimer’s/dementia care would increase 229% by 2050

•A HISC-sponsored Marist Poll revealed 61% of Americans feel unprepared to care for family or friends with Alzheimer’s

The resulting campaign increased HISC’s Alzheimer’s-care credibility by engaging with Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), an organization well-known in the space. Campaign goals included:

•Position HISC/franchises as trusted resources for Alzheimer’s/dementia care information
•Assist families by sharing HISC knowledge and resources
•Build awareness of HISC services
•Foster franchise engagement and drive their business

Execution

HISC and ADI hosted roundtables during World Alzheimer’s Month (September) in Washington, D.C. (Sept. 19); London (Sept. 20); and Beijing (Sept. 26). The events created ongoing dialogue on addressing families’ needs. Government officials, opinion leaders, family caregivers, Alzheimer’s patients and ADI and HISC representatives were panelists. CBS News’ Barry Petersen moderated the D.C. discussion. Participants tweeted at events via #ALZTALK2013.

The roundtables helped establish credibility of HISC caregiving resources, including:

•Confidence to Care a family-caregiving book by HISC’s CAREGiver experience advisor Molly Carpenter

•Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias Daily Helper free app giving real-time access to expert advice for managing difficult Alzheimer’s/dementia behaviors

•HelpforAlzheimersFamilies.com containing information on family caregiving, Confidence to Care and the app

•Free caregiver trainings

Media outreach, press release distributions and a matte article generated roundtable and caregiving-resource coverage. Health/aging reporters, calendars and broadcast desks were targeted. Additionally, Molly Carpenter met with New York-based magazines reaching boomer women, the primary unpaid caregiver demographic.

Results

•3,281 stories/692 million impressions in North America, Europe and Asia, including coverage in Associated Press, China Daily, Huffington Post and Medical News Today

•124,397 unique visits to HelpforAlzheimersfamilies.com, 7,803 app downloads and 16,500 campaign Facebook page likes

•66% of franchise owners said there was positive business impact:
-41% received calls/online contact
-21% received service inquiries

•646 family caregiver workshops

•Confidence to Care has been published in four countries

•HISC leaders have been asked to speak at global venues

* Alzheimer’s Disease International; Alzheimer’s Association ** Alzheimer’s Association

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Home Instead Senior Care® is a global provider of nonmedical in-home care for seniors with more than 1,000 independently owned franchises. Franchises provide 50 million hours of care annually throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Finland, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico and China. Home Instead’s 65,000 CAREGiversSM provide support services for daily living, personal care, medication reminders, meal preparation, light housekeeping, errands, transportation and shopping – enabling seniors to live safely at home. CAREGivers are trained in Home Instead’s groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Disease or Other Dementias CARE: Changing Aging Through Research and Education® program to assist seniors with these conditions. The curriculum is free to family caregivers online or through Home Instead offices.