St. Elizabeth’s community report gives a vibrant, living history lesson

A report to the community could simply convey arid statistics for public consumption.

Instead, St. Elizabeth Healthcare has opted to tell stories of personal triumphs juxtaposed with its rich history, and along the way, it delivers the requisite financial data and other information in highly accessible fashion.

This seamless and engaging melding of information, storytelling, and compelling visuals makes St. Elizabeth Healthcare and their agency, Fahlgren Mortine, the winner of Ragan’s 2013 Health Care PR and Marketing Award for Best Design.  

Vintage photos, including a portrait of founder Henrietta Cleveland, depict the organization’s early days, providing context and counterpoint for the modern-day pictures illustrating patients’ success stories, which  serve as the core of the book. The patients’ own words, writ large, underscore their respective victories.

Likewise, a black-and-white photo of the flood of 1937 serves as a harbinger for the striking images of a tornado’s devastation in Joplin, Mo.—and accounts of the organization’s response—roughly three-quarters of a century later.

Photos also complement the reporting on the health care organization’s technological steps forward, including the Da Vinci Surgical System. A clear and colorful graphic titled “Beyond the numbers” explains the allocation of some $83 million in care and other efforts to help those in need.

The result is a publication that’s enticing even to an outsider with no connection to St. Elizabeth or the area of northern Kentucky that it serves.

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to John Kirk, Michael Wheatley, Mike Exner and Tim Shoaf for their outstanding work.

View the publication here.

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