As the Mercury Rises

Summer tourist season is prime time to market your urgent care and ER services. Think about all of the accidents, illnesses, and other mishaps summer can deliver. Bug bites, sun burns, rashes, swimmer’s ear, tumbles off of bikes and playgrounds, burns from campfires and fireworks—the list goes on and on.

Be strategic. Think about the areas most frequented by these potential patients and get your name out there. Consider the following:

• Campgrounds. Most have “tourist centers,” where campers register for campsites and ask about area events and places of interest. Get simple brochures or two-side cards right in front of them. Include only the necessary information for a quick read—hours open, phone numbers, addresses, etc.

• Parks and beaches. Go guerrilla. Get college or high school kids to walk around and hand out “quick info” cards. Snag some inexpensive water bottles—or Frisbees—printed with your logo and ER and Urgent Care hours/phone numbers. Look at all possible areas your information can be placed.

• Parades and summer festivals. Make a parade float and have someone toss out small first aid kits with your ER/urgent care info included. Have the kits available at First Aid stations and at festival tables.

Take a different approach to reach your seasonal residents—your “summer patients.”

• Put door knob hangers on their front doors offering a free first aid kit they can pick up from your urgent care center—or put the kit right inside a bag to hang on the door handle.

• Send a “welcome back” postcard with a refrigerator magnet that has urgent care hours, address, phone number.

Summer visitors could be family and friends of your year-round residents. If you’ve taken good care of them, those year-rounders will look at
your hospital with a renewed sense of pride to have such a great health care resource right at home.