Our Ohio Family Planning Insurance Marketing Campaign

Development of my group’s actual Problem Solving for Better Health (PSBH) project was perhaps one of the most challenging, insightful, and rewarding learning experiences of the semester. Prior to Capstone, I’ve had plenty of PSBH experiences but this Capstone project definitely tested and enforced the valuable concepts of the PSBH model that I have learned in previous coursework. Our first step was planning and assessing our community: Brooklyn, Ohio. During this time, I learned a lot about the health problems inflicting the communities as well as strengths and weaknesses present within the community. This portion of the project taught me important lessons about community partnerships and finding community resources in order to better solve community health problems. We met with CCBH staff and staff at the Old Brooklyn Family Service Center for guidance developing our project. After meeting, I was excited that we agreed to implement a marketing campaign for recent Ohio Medicaid family planning expansions. During my experience in the Title X clinic, I found that this was such an important community need. It is a critical program that many community residents are not aware of. By attempting to raise awareness for Ohio Medicaid, I realized that I would be playing an instrumental role in helping disadvantaged individuals gain health care access to critical family planning health services. It was great to witness how such a small project could have such a large potential impact on the community. I found research that supports that this program can provide more people with health access and thus contribute to a reduction in unintended pregnancies and STI rates.

            Our marketing campaign went well. We visited many, at least 300, different locations businesses in Brooklyn. We spoke with many Brooklyn residents and patients in the clinic. Alone we directly referred more than 2 dozen patients to Medicaid. This does not seem like a lot; however, like Medicaid family planning expansions, the Title X clinic is new. Thus, it has not established that large of a clientele when compared to other clinics. Additionally, we also went to local colleges near the community. Overall, I feel our marketing campaign was a success and made a valuable impact in the community.