sponsorships
surgery for which it was being used,” says Stuart Vincent, director of public relations for the hospital. “The event was very successful, with many shoppers stopping by to try their hand at operating the da Vinci system.” Mather promoted the event with posters that
A few hospital surgeons demonstrated the state-of-the-art robotic system at the nearby Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington, NY, and even allowed shoppers to try the controls. Intuitive Surgical, the manufacturer of the da Vinci Robotic
Surgical System, brought the robot to the mall for the event. The physicians educated customers about minimally invasive procedures and discussed their benefits—including less pain, fewer side effects and a shorter recovery period. “We wanted to spread the word about the new surgery
program at St. Catherine’s and give people the opportunity to ask questions with answers directly from physicians and the surgical team,” says Karla E. Mason, who works in public relations and external affairs for St. Catherine’s. This event has proven to be successful for many other hospitals in other locations. Physicians from John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port
Jefferson, NY, with a couple of robots, spent two days at Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, NY, the previous year. “We went there to publicize Mather’s acquisition of the da Vinci system, the advantages it offered and the types of minimally invasive
62 Specialty Retail Report n Winter 2013
Mall Operations W
Bernadette Starzee
hen St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, NY, wanted to get the word out about its minimally invasive surgeries, it went to the mall.
were displayed throughout the mall. “We also had a large overhead banner, four free-standing, life-sized posters of our doctors, nurses and other staff attached to a hand-sanitizer display, and some retractable banner stands in center court,” Vincent says. “We displayed brochures supplied by Intuitive Surgical about the different procedures being done at Mather, into which we
placed stickers with the contact information for the surgeons performing the procedures.” To further promote the event, Mather contacted
Mall operations take on a new meaning as hospitals show off a new robotic system in center court.
local school robotics clubs and held a competition that involved using a virtual program to manipulate the robot to place a given number of rings on hooks. “The teams showed up with their T-shirts and cheering squads and created significant buzz on the first day, attracting
more shoppers to stop by to see what was happening,” Vincent says. “All teams received scrub shirts with a Mather da Vinci logo on the pocket.” St. Catherine’s also staged
a contest to help create buzz about its event. School children were asked to help name the hospital’s robotic system, with the winner receiving a gift card and a photo-op with the robot. Another hospital in the
region, Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, NY, held a similar event at the Westfield South Shore Mall in nearby Bay Shore, NY, in 2011. “Participants were able to operate the robot and experience the precision and control it has,” says Colleen Valdini, director of external and public affairs for the hospital. “It was very well-attended; we had more than 100 people stop by.”
Bernadette Starzee, a Long Island, NY writer who covers business, sports and lifestyle topics, is a senior writer for Specialty Retail Report. She can be reached at
starzee@optonline.net.
SpecialtyRetail.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132