Earlier today, Kathy Widmer, the Vice President of Marketing for McNeil Healthcare, had a bit more to say about all that they have learned over the past few days – and how they are trying to figure out how to put those learnings into practice.

From Kathy:

I’ve met some AMAZING people over the past week. I’ve been traveling in Europe with a photographer visiting some of the charitable programs and partners we support. I take such trips from time to time as a way of chronicling this work, and then sharing it with employees and others. So far, we’ve visited about a dozen programs in five countries, with each visit more fascinating than the next.

Yesterday, for instance, we met with Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque Enfants du Monde, a Paris-based group whose sole mission is to help disadvantaged children suffering from serious heart issues by financing their operation at Necker Hospital in Paris and coordinating their stay in France with a “host” family. Roughly one child in 100 suffers from heart issues where only surgery can save them. In many instances, these children don’t get the necessary surgery because it’s too expensive for their families.  

Each year, Mécénat brings about 100 children (some as young as a year old!) from 42 countries to Paris for open-heart surgery. The children travel to France without their parents, and are “hosted” for 6-8 weeks by volunteer families who care for them and pay their everyday expenses (there are 240 such families throughout France!). All other expenses for air travel and the surgery itself are covered through various sponsors, including Johnson & Johnson, which has supported Mécénat for more than a decade. Over the past 12 years, more than 1,300 children’s lives have been saved.  

During our visit, Dr. Francine Leca, a highly charming, charismatic cardiac surgeon who performs many of the operations, met with two Parisian host families and two angelic little girls – one from Cameroon, the other from Laos. The 12-month-old Cameroonian girl had surgery a few weeks ago, is recovering well, and will be going home soon. The four-year-old Laotian girl had arrived in Paris JUST two days ago. She has a hole in her heart that is preventing healthy oxygen flow, and will receive surgery soon. I spent time watching the interactions of the Laotian girl with her new temporary parents … it was one of the most AMAZING acts of love I’ve seen. Take a look…

Literally, the host couple had only met this girl at the airport two days prior, but their outpouring of love for her was incredibly palpable and emotional. This couple has hosted several children over the past few years, and both are pros for sure. The girl was a bit stunned by it all, not truly understanding why these new people were showing so much affection for her, and wondering where her mommy and daddy were. As the visit went along, though, she took to her surrogates in a way a child connects with her biological parents. By all measures, a poignant and inspiring moment.

On so many levels, this program represents acts of breathtaking kindness and love from which we can all benefit.

Learn more at http://www.mecenat-cardiaque.org/about_us_eng.php.
 

By Kathy Widmer, Vice President of Marketing, McNeil Consumer Healthcare

This weekend, a lot was said about Motrin on Twitter and in the blogosphere. Unfortunately, it was not the kind of conversation that we here at McNeil had hoped to be at the center of.

For those who haven’t been following this, it all began when we ran an advertisement online over the weekend that talked about babywearing – which is a term that we used to describe carrying a child in a sling or wrap.

It was meant to engender sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their kids, but did so through an attempt at humor that missed the mark and many moms found offensive.

Now as you can imagine, we certainly didn’t mean to offend moms through our advertising. As a mom of three girls, I understand many of the comments made and agree that we know what’s best for our kids and for ourselves.

On behalf of McNeil, I’m sorry if you found this advertisement insulting. We are are in the process of removing it from our website. Unfortunately, it will take longer for us to remove this advertisement from magazines as several are currently on newsstands and in distribution.

One bright spot is that we have learned through this process – in particular, the importance of paying close attention to the conversations that are taking place online. It has also brought home the importance of taking a broader look at what we say and how it may be interpreted

Nov. 14th is World Diabetes Day, and in honor of that event Rob posted a few videos this week on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on living with diabetes — including the following clip:

Though much has been said about what Amy Tenderich described as the “army of well-informed patients” who are poised change the healthcare system, for the most part, companies are still on the sidelines. Asked why that is, I often point to the highly regulated environment we work in. But that isn’t the only reason — most companies still need to get their arms around just how people form and use communities online to talk about health and improve their healthcare outcomes. It is only by understanding just WHO is online, WHAT they are talking about and WHY they are turning to others online that we can begin to figure out a way to join in.

With that in mind, a few weeks ago Margaret Gurowitz and I invited a few people who use social media tools to a meeting we hold each year for communications professionals from throughout Johnson & Johnson and its operating companies.

First off, Lisa Emrich from Brass and Ivory and the Carnival of MS Bloggers talked about blogging about living with MS and what that has meant to her. We then turned to Alice Krueger who talked about how through Second Life, people can connect and form relationships which ultimately helps them improve their lives:

Part 2:

We closed with Kim McAllister from Emergiblog who talked about how she got involved with blogging and how she used her online connections to better manage a family health matter.

In all, it was pretty powerful stuff — and underscored how social media isn’t just a playground, but an important tool that people are turning to to better manage their health and improve their lives. For those of us in the business, it’s time to start paying more attention to how these communities work and then determine how best to engage and get involved.

Rob posted a few videos this week on the Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube on living with bipolar disorder — including this one on the importance of families and loved ones staying involved and supportive: