Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA)
The 32,000 Home Health Care Workers of America (HHWA) brought in Butler Associates to create a campaign giving the labor organization a higher, more public profile, at the height of the pandemic. In the organization’s history, it had not before had a public relations function to narrate its story, so Butler Associates efforts and ability to launch the organization into the public eye were critical during an ongoing national health crisis.
Our earliest messaging for HHWA helped differentiate the critical services that its members provide, entering the homes of more than 100,000 of New York’s elderly and infirm, to provide necessary medical services, feeding, care and companionship, and being there for people in need, during the deepest, darkest, and most fearful period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Our efforts included a wide mix of thought-leader commentary, spotlight interviews, opinion editorials and public testimony before city, state and federal regulatory and legislative bodies. In only a matter of weeks, the campaign took the organization’s public recognition from Zero-to-60, with earned media in top tier outlets including MarketWatch, Albany Times Union, Crain’s New York Business, Home Health Care News,
Scrubs Magazine, among others.
In addition, Butler Associates helped arrange for union leadership to present testimony to the U.S. Congress Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. So impactful was their message, that leadership was invited to testify a second time to dramatize the unsung role and daily issues confronting its workforce on the front lines during the coronavirus crisis and the need for expanded federal funding.
At the same time, and through consistent advocacy and messaging -including a critically timed opinion editorial in the Albany Times Union – HHWA leadership successfully demonstrated to top New York state medical regulators, the urgent need to maintain funding commitments to home care services as an alternative to full-time nursing facilities.
All of these positive, proactive communications efforts were significantly validated in early 2021 when HHWA’s Secretary--Treasurer was recognized by Crain’s New York Business, and Empire Blue Cross-Blue Shield, together with some of New York’s biggest medical leaders, as one of the region’s 50 Heroes of the Pandemic.
-
Lori Ames, President of HHWA, was named as one of New York's 50 Heroes of the Pandemic
-
Presented a testimony twice in front of the U.S. Congress Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.