Webinar: Get to the heart of patient stories 

0:00:00.7 Lauran McHaffie: All right, in the essence of time, we’re going to go ahead and get started. I’d like to welcome you all. Thank you for joining us. This is our first WG Content webinar. I see so many folks that are friends and clients, and then some new people too, joining us. So we really appreciate you coming with us today. My name is Lauren McHaffie, and I am part of the business development team at WG Content, some of you known as formerly as Writer Girl. We’ve got a great presenter today. She will share her expertise on how to get to the heart of patient stories. But before we get started, I just want to share a few logistics. We just have a little bit of an introduction here. We want to be respectful of your time. So today’s webinar will be wrapped up in 30 minutes. We encourage you to ask questions. There’s a Q and A tab down at the bottom of your Zoom screen, so that’s how we’ll ask questions. And time permitting, we’ll answer those questions at the end of the session. Certainly, we will follow up with you and answer those directly to you. So, don’t never fear, today’s webinar will be recorded and it will be made available to you to share and revisit as you wish. 

0:01:12.9 Lauran McHaffie: So today’s webinar, as I said, is brought to you by WG Content. Every day at WG, we work to shape meaningful content and lasting relationships with our client partners. We’re team players and savvy communicators with decades of content, strategy, writing, and design experience, and help our clients achieve their marketing communication business goals. And as you’ll see in our presentation today, we do that one word at a time. So today’s webinar, as you know, is “Get to the Heart of Patient Stories.” Patient and impact stories are powerful. They’re just full of emotion, vulnerability, hope, and humanity. And in Charles Duhigg’s new book, “Supercommunicators,” we’re told that research shows that sharing vulnerability is the leading indicator of building connection. Our brains are hardwired to connect through emotion. Today, we’ll be sharing how to identify and capture memorable stories, interview like a pro, and we’ll share some inspiring real-life examples of patient stories that are making an impact. But before you meet our speaker, I’m just going to launch this quick poll. It’s just one question. Here it comes. So you can just answer on your screen. I’m going to leave that up there. 

0:02:31.7 Lauran McHaffie: Just take your time, but go ahead and answer that now. I will introduce our presenter. As you’re answering, you’re about to meet a patient rock star. She has been lauded by many of our healthcare care partners for her mastery of getting to the heart of the story and being true to brand initiatives. Colleen Weinkam is a senior content writer and editor at WG Content. She’s a journalism grad from Ohio University, married, and the mother of two. Before joining WG, she produced TV news, has been a magazine editor, and part of the MarCom teams for Ronald McDonald House and what is now the City of Hope. I’m going to go ahead and end this poll. Let’s see what the results are. 20 plus, that looks like our winner. Can you all see the results? 38% have 20 plus patient stories. That’s fantastic. All right, well, without further ado, let’s have Colleen take us away and share some of her insights. 

0:03:41.7 Colleen Weinkam: Thank you, Lauren. And thank you all for being here. I’m truly excited to present to you today on a topic I’m passionate about. And it sounds like you’re all passionate about it as well, so that’s awesome to hear. So what we’re going to talk about is the power of patient stories, how I write them, and the reason I know they’re powerful. Here’s a look at the agenda first. So, to begin with, I’ll share some story examples. Then I’ll give a few tips on how to conduct interviews and write these kinds of stories. And then I’ll take some questions. So first of all, why do patient stories matter? They’re a critical piece of healthcare marketing for several reasons. Not only do they get others’ lived experiences in front of people they can inspire and help, they also help you build relationships with those patients and prospective patients. And they inspire loyalty to your brand. What’s at the heart of patient stories? Just what you’d expect: Emotion, authenticity, trust, and most importantly, hope. Now, let’s get into why I know story matters. We all have stories. We have stories about that new restaurant we ate at over the weekend or what our plans are for the summer. 

0:05:01.6 Colleen Weinkam: But we all have deeper stories, too. Stories that we would say define us. Stories about how we were raised, or how we met our significant other, or stories about how our children came into the world. When we share these deeper, foundational stories with someone else, we’re allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in hopes of forming a connection with them and ultimately building a relationship. So today, I’m going to share one of my foundational stories with you. Like many stories, it starts with a hook, which if you’re not familiar, is just a fancy word for a compelling way to grab the audience’s attention. On a sunny day in June, while I was putting away laundry, I was sure I’d heard my eleven-month-old daughter, Anna, fall and break her neck. I just walked by my son’s room where she’d been standing next to the bed. He was sitting on top of the bed, and she was just standing there watching him. Happy they were occupied, I moved on to my bedroom with my laundry basket to start putting clothes away. The next minute I heard a loud thud. I waited for a cry, but none came. For some reason, that terrified me more than anything else, and I ran into my son’s room. 

0:06:10.8 Colleen Weinkam: My daughter was lying face down on the ground where I’d last seen her. She wasn’t crying, and she wasn’t moving. When I got to her and rolled her over, she also wasn’t breathing and her eyes were rolled back in her head. Even though my immediate thought was that she’d broken her neck, I picked her up and ran around the house, carrying her with my son tugging on my leg. We were both crying. Anna, though Anna was not crying, she still wasn’t breathing. Her eyes were still rolled back in her head, and her head was lolling around on her neck. At a loss, I laid her on the ground and started breathing into her mouth. Mercifully, she started crying. Then I called 911, and the EMS team who came checked Anna out and told me she looked fine, that she’d probably just fallen off the bed and knocked out for a minute. 

0:06:57.9 Colleen Weinkam: It would take a few more months and a few more of these episodes for my mom, not me, to recognize the signs of what was going on, and for a neurologist at Cincinnati Children’s to tell me Anna had epilepsy. The diagnosis would shape my family’s life for the next several years as we struggled to find the right dose of the right medication to control Anna’s seizures while not causing harmful side effects. 

0:07:21.4 Colleen Weinkam: I’d stay with her in the hospital for three nights at a time as they performed EEG after EEG to try to find the cause of her seizures. Because I was the primary parent and with Anna, 99% of the time, it was up to me to call the nurse whenever I saw Anna have a seizure, meaning I was the one responsible for her dosages going up, a tough responsibility to shoulder when I was fully aware of the medication we’d found that finally worked for her, also significantly slowed down her learning. All that time, all I wanted, aside, of course, for Anna to stop having seizures and get off the medicine that was affecting her development, was to talk to someone else who’d experienced what I was experiencing. Fast forward to today, Anna’s a healthy, happy, newly minted teenage girl. Her 13th birthday is today, actually. Although she still struggles some with school and with learning, Anna’s history with epilepsy is largely a distant memory, thank God. And now I have the privilege of getting to write these powerful stories and use them to help others. This is Atticus, for instance. Atticus was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumor, when he was in the third grade. 

0:08:37.4 Colleen Weinkam: I wrote Atticus’s story from a video Cincinnati Children’s had filmed of his family. In it, Atticus’s mom said she kept asking, “Why?” after they found out about the tumor. “Why Atticus? Why their family? Why had this happened to them?” At the end of the video and at the end of the story, she says, “I would have given anything, anything to have seen a child like Atticus, two years out of treatment, being a normal kid, walking to the bus stop, studying for his accelerated math test, on the science Olympiad team. I didn’t know that was going to be possible. And if I can provide just a little bit of hope for another parent to cling to, then that’s the reason this happened. That’s the why.” Again, that was a quote from Atticus’s mom. But so many of the people I interview for patient stories say something so similar to this. Here is Frankie. Frankie was born a healthy baby last October. She weighed nine pounds, 3oz, and according to her mom, she loved food from day one. So when Frankie wasn’t interested in eating a week after she was born and kept throwing up, Frankie’s mom knew something was wrong. 

0:09:48.2 Colleen Weinkam: It turned out that Frankie had caught a cold that first week of her life, and the cold had attacked her heart, something called viral myocarditis. Frankie had to have a ventricular assist device placed to keep her alive and is now on a heart transplant list. Frankie’s mom said, “I’d never heard of a virus in the heart doing this. I never knew this could happen. I want more people to know about it, and I want more people to know that they’re not alone if it happens to them.” 

0:10:19.8 Colleen Weinkam: This is Logan. Logan suffered two strokes, one on each side of his brain, just a few weeks after he was born, leading to significant injury at a critical period of brain development. I wanted to include Logan’s story because I set it up a little differently than the other children’s stories. Cincinnati Children’s patients stories had written recently, “I was worried about becoming repetitive with the hook, so I thought really hard what Logan’s mom, Shay, had shared with me. She told me one of her biggest worries during the first few months of Logan’s life, was that her son would never be able to communicate with her. She said she got this picture from Logan’s daycare one day when he was 6-months-old, with Logan smiling the biggest smile, and it made all the difference. So, I led with that, and then I brought it back to Logan’s smile at the end, and I’ll give you a few seconds to read through it. 

0:11:33.0 Colleen Weinkam: The last pediatric patient I want to highlight is Liam. Liam was born with something called an encephalocele, which is a type of severe birth defect on his face. Encephaloceles are rare. They’re sac-like bulges containing brain tissue and spinal fluid that form when a baby’s neural tube doesn’t close completely in utero. Liam’s story had a few points I wanted to tease out. Number one, Liam’s mom, Hannah, said she didn’t understand anything the doctor was saying when he explained all of this to her. The only thing she cared about was whether her son would survive. I included that because I felt it was an important part of the story. Number two, before Liam’s eleven-hour surgery to remove the encephalocele and reconstruct his facial and skull bones, Hannah commented that the goodbye was bittersweet. She said, “I told people we were excited because we knew Liam needed this surgery in order to grow and develop, but at the same time, we were mourning the face we’d fallen in love with.” 

0:12:32.3 Colleen Weinkam: I mentioned this to the pediatric plastic surgeon, and he said it’s a similar sentiment shared by many of his patients’ parents. He said, “You fall in love with the way your child looks when they’re born, but then you have another opportunity to fall in love with the way they look all over again.” I thought that was another important part of the story to include. And number three, I ended the story with this quote from Hannah, “When I show people a picture of Liam from the morning of his surgery and then they see him today, they’re just blown away that it’s the same baby. It doesn’t even look like the same kid. He still has challenges to overcome, but he’s the strongest person I’ve ever met and he is so very loved.” 

0:13:16.4 Colleen Weinkam: Switching gears a bit here to adult patient stories. This is Julie. She’s a bariatric nurse for Mayo Clinic, and she had bariatric surgery herself ten years ago. I included Julie’s story, which is scheduled to post on Mayo Clinic’s website in the next few weeks, as an example of how to tie the hook back in at the end. 

0:13:39.0 Colleen Weinkam: The hook is, “Eastern Caribbean or Western Caribbean, lounging on the ship or island hopping, Julie’s love language is any vacation on a boat. The 60-year-old nurse has been on more than two dozen cruises in her life, including the one where she met her husband, Sherman.” And the end is, “With her next cruise coming up in September. Julie says she no longer worries if she’ll be able to fit into her clothes by the time she boards. “Now I go into my closet and pull out an outfit and know it’s going to fit,” she says. “It’s such an amazing feeling to hold my head high and not hide in a corner. Going through the bariatric program is the best decision I’ve ever made. My one regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.” Here’s one other adult patient story example. This one is from Providence, which, if you’re not familiar, is a healthcare system on the West Coast. Laurie Kelly is Chief Philanthropy Officer for Providence. She’s second from the right in this picture. She lost her husband, Mike, who’s in the middle of the picture, holding the baby, four years ago to head and neck cancer. 

0:14:45.6 Colleen Weinkam: Her takeaway was very similar to other families I talked to. She said, “If I could share one message with the world after losing Mike, it’s not that you should go to the doctor for your own sake, but for the sake of your loved ones. I don’t want anyone else to experience the loss of a loved one to something that could have been prevented by routine, simple screenings.” Laurie actually reached out to us a few months after the story published. She said a woman pulled her aside and said she had read the article on my chart. She told Laurie she had HPV and was considering having a hysterectomy. The woman told Laurie she felt like the article was sent specifically to her, and because of it, she decided to move forward with the surgery. Laurie’s mantra with the story had been, “If we can help one person with this article, it will be worth it.” So she was thrilled she’d met her goal. 

0:15:37.5 Colleen Weinkam: What I’ve learned from telling people’s stories, is that people in desperate situations desperately want to share them and hear them. They’re willing to make themselves vulnerable in the hopes of saving someone else from the same pain they’ve experienced, or at least to assure them they’re not alone. The thing is, when people entrust you with their foundational stories, they’re trusting you with a piece of their heart. And I think of it as my job and my privilege to make sure that heart shows through in my writing. That forms connections and builds relationships, not just between me and them, of course, but between the healthcare system and the audience they’re trying to reach. 

0:16:19.4 Colleen Weinkam: Getting to some takeaways. I think there are three important pieces of any patient’s story. The first, of course, is story. Honor the story and keep hope front and center. You have to tell a story that resonates with your readers, think, patients, and prospective patients, and one that’s compelling. Second, you need to draw them in. That’s why a hook is so important to any good story. And third, it’s important to weave in reputation building in a way that’s not obvious or distracting. 

0:16:55.1 Colleen Weinkam: So, starting with the story itself. When I begin most family interviews, I simply ask them to share their story. Then I just listen, and I follow up later with additional or clarification questions. Sometimes I share some of my own story with them if I think it lends itself well to the situation and could help build trust, and I always, always thank them at the end of the conversation. I sincerely consider it a gift, one, again, that they’re entrusting me to honor by telling well and telling accurately. I included this quote here from a patient story because I think it shows how hope is truly the guiding light to follow when it comes to writing these kinds of stories. And again, I’ll give you a minute to read through it. 

0:17:56.3 Colleen Weinkam: Next up, “Have a hook.” Hooks engage the reader, they bring people in, and they entice them to read your entire story, which will not only give them hope ideally, but will also connect them with your brand and highlight the differentiators you want them to notice. Here’s an example of a hook I wrote. The story about Olivia detailed how a chronic condition called intestinal pseudo-obstruction, which is intestinal failure, was constricting her world with its debilitating symptoms. So I wrote, “In her early 20s, at an age when most young adults are busy exploring their expanding worlds, Olivia found hers becoming smaller.” Finally, weaving reputation building in a way that’s not obvious or distracting. By focusing on the patient’s story itself when writing, you naturally write in a way where you can get the important reputation-building information out there without making it too in-your-face. Usually, I don’t include anything about the doctors or teams who treated the patient at the top of the story. It’s usually brought in toward the middle. Remember, the patient is the star. The benefits you reap with regard to reputation come from keeping the patient front and center. 

0:19:17.0 Colleen Weinkam: This is an example of weaving in reputation building in the middle of a patient story when the parents are discussing where to seek care for their child. You can link to a center’s full title so people can find more information, but this is coming straight from the family’s mouths, so readers are going to be more likely to trust it. I’ll let you read it. 

0:19:44.1 Colleen Weinkam: And now let’s get into some interviewing tips. First, research the health condition ahead of time. Talk with the patient or patient’s parent before jumping right in. Make sure they feel comfortable first. Then, just ask them to share their story, and of course, actively listen to it. If you need clarification on a date or have any additional questions, save them for the end. Don’t interrupt if you can help it. And at the end, thank the patient or the patient’s parent for sharing their story with you. 

0:20:27.8 Colleen Weinkam: It may sound simple, but I never have trouble when I just ask a patient or a patient’s parent to tell me their story. It’s an open-ended question to tell a story they’ve probably told millions of times before, and one they probably get some relief from telling, honestly. Again, sharing these foundational stories with others helps us form connections with them and helps us feel like we’re not alone. And here are five important interviewing logistic tips. 

0:20:56.5 Colleen Weinkam: First, make sure you or your department has a signed waiver from the patient on file, giving you permission to use the story. Second, I typically prefer emailing the patient as my first contact with them. That allows me to outline what I’m asking them for and letting them know where their story will eventually publish. It also lets me reassure them that their schedule will dictate the day and time of the conversation, and to allow them to ask me any questions in advance. If I haven’t heard back from someone after a day or two, I’ll generally follow up first with another email and then a day or two after that with a phone call. Phone calls can feel a little cold and abrupt, in my opinion, which is why I try to give them the time to digest what I’m asking them through an email first. 

0:21:43.8 Colleen Weinkam: Most of the time, the best case scenarios are when they are expecting a contact from someone when they have a heads up from the marketing team. Third, I always find it best to record the conversation so I can give my complete attention to the person or people I’m interviewing. Recording the conversation helps get rid of any potential distractions, like, trying to type along with them or taking notes. It does also means you have to ask permission of the person you’re interviewing to record however, which is always the first thing I do after establishing a rapport, before asking them to share. Fourth, unless there’s an extenuating reason, I conduct patients stories interviews on video calls. I think it builds trust, establishes a personal relationship, and allows for better engagement. Fifth, I always assure the patient that they’ll have a chance to review the story before it publishes. That’s either from me sending them a draft or a link to the unpublished story, or from someone on the marketing team sending it to them. I want to assure them that they’ll have a chance catch any inaccuracies or reward any of their quotes if they don’t feel they came out the way they intended. 

0:22:55.8 Colleen Weinkam: Because a lot of the stories I shared today were pediatric patient stories, here are some of the questions I used to get to the heart of them when interviewing. To be clear though, this is only when I’m struggling to get information. Most of the time, this falls into my lap very honestly. Also, if you request our follow-up asset, I’ve included questions there that you can easily adjust to different audiences. These are usually the questions I bring in at the end of the conversation. In general, I find them to be worth asking because they bring out something that hasn’t been discussed yet that I can weave into the narrative. 

0:23:38.3 Colleen Weinkam: In my experience, the best patient stories come from the care team, cases that stuck with them, or patients that were memorable. You can reach out to them directly or you can add a form to your intranet. Also, tell your social team to keep an eye out for positive mentions. When I worked at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, today, City of Hope, we would develop provider stories this way by highlighting the providers patients were raving about on social media. It also lets you know which past patients are engaged enough to be open to a patient story. And remember that if you end up with more stories than you have time to write them, that’s a good problem to have. And now I’ll turn it back to Lauren. I think we have some questions coming in. 

0:24:27.3 Lauran McHaffie: I almost forgot to get back online. I was so enthralled with what you were saying. Thank you so much, Colleen. I really appreciate it. That was great. Thank you for sharing those stories and then also in particular, sharing your personal story. We really appreciate that. We do have a couple of questions, but let me go ahead and start with this first one. Excuse me. We will end at 2:30, so if we don’t get to your question, certainly will follow up with you. Where are some good places to go to research a health condition before you interview? 

0:25:01.6 Colleen Weinkam: So I always go to the hospital or healthcare system’s website first. Then I look to sites like the CDC or the National Institutes of Health. If it’s related to cancer, I’ll look at ASCO, which is the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or the American Cancer Society. Sometimes I also look at peer-reviewed medical journals. The most important thing, of course, is to make sure you’re getting your information from a reputable source. So sometimes I’ll also ask the provider or, sorry, I always ask the provider, in addition to about the condition when I talk to him or her, which usually follows the patient interview, I ask them how common or rare the condition is and how it tends to affect patients. 

0:25:43.3 Lauran McHaffie: That’s very good. That makes sense. What if the patient doesn’t offer very good details to get a picture of how the diagnoses impacts them? 

0:25:53.7 Colleen Weinkam: And that does happen. If it doesn’t come up organically. Be sure to ask follow-up questions that get at what you need. You can ask what they do for work or school, what they enjoy doing for fun. You can ask the parents of a pediatric patient to describe their child’s personality, their likes and dislikes, and what their daily life looks like, although it can make the conversation longer. I try to always let the patient or patient’s parent talk, though, even if it’s off-topic or not related to what I’m looking for. You’re building a relationship, and that doesn’t always come quickly. 

0:26:27.4 Lauran McHaffie: Do you ever follow up with the parent or the patient? 

0:26:33.7 Colleen Weinkam: Yes. Good question. At the end of every interview, I always let them know that there’s a chance, and most of the time a good chance, that I will follow back up with them with a clarification question or something I missed when I was interviewing them. Usually, it’s around the time when I’m going to start writing, so I let them know that in advance, and then I follow up with either a phone call or an email based on their preference. Yes. 

0:27:00.3 Lauran McHaffie: Alright. I think we maybe have time for a couple more. And how can these patient stories translate to other types of stories, like foundations or providers, charitable organizations? 

0:27:10.5 Colleen Weinkam: So I think of this as human interest writing. So I think you can apply this approach to any other story that features a person or anything, really, that you can ascribe a human element to. That could be a doctor or other healthcare provider of course. Again, at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, we’d write features called, “Passion Behind the Practice,” that highlighted a doctor and why he or she decided to follow the career path they chose. Those can be really compelling, too. But it could also be the reason a foundation or hospital was established or the story behind a new technology or adopting. I think the bottom line remains the same, story matters, and whenever you can form a connection with your patients and prospective patients, your brand is better for it. 

0:27:54.1 Lauran McHaffie: Alrighty. Well, it’s 2:29, so I’m just going to do the wrap-up. Sarah asked a question. Sarah, about SEO keywords. Interestingly enough, our webinar next month is about SEO, so we’ll be sure to answer you directly, but let’s go ahead and wrap it up. Thank you so much for joining us today. Watch your inbox for the recording of today’s webinar. There is going to be a post-webinar survey. It’s just three quick questions. We’d really appreciate your help on that. Make sure you download, get your copy of the Patient Story Playbook. It has information that we talked about today, but even deeper information. And then next month, our webinar is SEO strategies for today’s search landscape. And that will be coming to you in August. So make sure to look for your inbox for that. But until then, thank you all for joining us. You have a great day, and we will see you in August.