UCSD Healthcare
Special Events, Projects, Programs, or Campaigns
Bronze
After surviving a devastating electrocution accident, Christian Arreola faced unimaginable challenges, losing his right arm and hand and undergoing 20 surgeries in four months. But with courage and an incredible multidisciplinary care team at UC San Diego Health by his side, he has not only recovered — he recently threw out the first pitch at a San Diego Padre’s game with his myoelectric prosthetic hand.
Our goal was to shine a spotlight on every stage of Christian’s recovery, which was achieved through working creatively with surgeons, specialists, occupational therapists and more all under one roof at UC San Diego Health. We creatively told his story through a multi-faceted campaign which included written storytelling, video, social media content and media pitching to create a comprehensive educational campaign that had a long shelf life due to strategic and creative positioning on multiple platforms.
What was the most impactful part of your entry?
The approach we took to create a comprehensive communications campaign about this patient story vs. only writing a single article shows how much further the educational reach of a story can be stretched with the use of creativity and multiple platforms.
It garnered earned media exposure throughout the year and we extended our own coverage through multiple social media and video posts, further amplifying the story. With a reach over 10 million in earned media, Christian’s story has inspired a far larger audience than we could have ever captured on our own, thanks to creative pitching and strong media relationships.
What is one thing you learned from your entry/experience?
A powerful lesson we learned through this process was discovering that our creative approach to extend the life of Christian’s journey was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to repurposing the story. For future compelling stories like this, we will more broadly plan for multi-month publicity campaigns that extend the reach of an impactful story throughout the year.
Contact: Annie Pierce
arpierce@health.ucsd.edu