Bastyr News Just in Time for Herb & Food Fair

We sent the June edition of Bastyr News to nearly 39,000 subscribers, just in time to remind them to attend the Herb & Food Fair on Saturday. We hope our shout-out to the opening of the Sacred Seeds Sanctuary will bring even more people to the event!

If you haven't already heard about the study by Drs. Leanna J. Standish and Guan-Cheng Sun on how qigong works, here's your chance to spread the word. In the Bastyr News article, "High-Tech Imaging Peers Into Qigong Healer's Brain," fellow Marketing Coordinator Jon Hiskes writes that in collaboration with the UW, the innovative research project entails using a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine to try to gauge how qigong affects the brain. From the article:

"We know that qigong works," (Dr. Sun) says in his Bastyr office. "We don't know how it works." 

Now he's trying to find out.

The June issue also includes an update on the Spring for Health Luncheon, which raised nearly $100,000 for uncompensated care at Bastyr Center, as well as a health tip on "What is a Balanced Breakfast?" and a recipe from Bastyr faculty Becky Selengut for Skillet Sardines — did you know that local sardines are in season right now? This recipe provides a good excuse for you to give them a try!

In addition, don't forget that registration is now open for APPLE Core, the healthy lifestyle workshop for kids ages 8-12 and their parents. The Aug. 11 event is presented in partnership with LifeWise Health Plan of Washington.

Bastyr in the Media May 18, 2012

A big week here at Bastyr University, as we celebrated what would have been our namesake's 100th birthday with numerous events. Here are a few highlights, covered by the media:

The Seattle City Guide Examiner helped us promote our annual Spring for Health Luncheon. It was held on Wednesday May 16, 2012 and raised funds to help us provide uncompensated health care for those who cannot afford to pay at Bastyr Center for Natural Health.

Keynote speakers from the luncheon Drs. Pina LoGiudice and Peter Bongiorno made an appearance on the Q13 Fox "News This Morning" show Friday, May 18, 2012. The alumni pair did an excellent job talking about the rise of natural medicine, food as nature's medicine and tips on staying healthy. Video link to come on our Bastyr YouTube channel.

Those superstar alums weren't the only Bastyr representatives capturing their 15 minutes of fame on television. Bastyr Center Resident Dr. Jamie Corroon was also on Q13's morning show on May 10, 2012. His interview focused on both the whooping cough outbreak and a new study that showed 42% of Americans could be obese by 2030. In discussing both topics so knowledgeably, Jamie showed the kind of versatility that make naturopathic doctors special. Video link to come.

As part of the week-long celebration of events honoring Dr. John Bastyr, officials from the City of Kenmore, the King County Council and the state of Washington all proclaimed May 16, 2012 (Dr. Bastyr's actual birthday) as "Dr. John Bastyr Day." What a special honor.

All in all, it was a great week with 100 years worth of memories!

Reducing the Number of Student Emails

What was the second worst-rated question on the last student satisfaction survey? "The amount of email I receive on my bastyr.edu account is manageable."

Students get a lot of email in their Bastyr email accounts, and most of it is of the "mass" variety (brown bag announcements, club meetings, clinic sub requests, etc.). We recently set up a fake student email account to see just how much. The account received about six emails a day from the "Student" email list alone. The number for real students in probably closer to 10-12 a day when considering other student email lists.

To help alleviate this email burden (which some students say is causing them to ignore their email completely), we're considering alternative ways to communicate with students. The first step is improving After Hours on MyBU to make it more user friendly and directing people to post events and announcements there first. (Notice the forums are now broken into categories, some "official" forums have been added and we now have a forum called "Today!" where announcements about the current day's events can be found.)

The hope is that by improving After Hours and pointing more people to take advantage of the "digest" options it offers (one summary email a day vs. an email for every announcement), people can "opt in" to the type of messages they want to receive and students will have a better chance of keeping up on their Bastyr mail.

We also plan to improve the internal calendar and add more options for posting announcements on MyBU. Have any other ideas for improving the way we communicate with students?
-Jordan

 

Students Are the Best Recruiters

It's one thing for us marketing folks to gush and ramble on about what a great place Bastyr is. It's another thing for students to do it. That's why we've been focusing on giving students and alumni opportunities to speak about their growth and education here.

April's Natural Directions newsletter featured alumnus Jeff Johnson, a nutritionist at the food company Kashi, speaking about how Bastyr helped him reach his position. And incoming ND student Leigh Siergiewicz tells a delightful story about learning to stop underestimating herself and start tackling the science prerequisites that had been scaring her.

May's newsletter included herbal sciences alumna Alexis Durham waxing joyful about her role as a gardener and teacher in southern Oregon. And ND student Mark Shortt generously shared some dispatches from the recent Naturopaths Without Borders trip to Guatemala, writing about how it motivated him to return to school and learn more.

Check out the full issues for April and May.

PHOTOS: The Journey to California Begins!

By now you've heard about the Journey to California to honor what would have been Dr. John Bastyr's 100th year, and to celebrate the opening of Bastyr University California. We'll have about 100 alumni taking one of Dr. Bastyr's personal books, Return to Nature by Adolph Just, on a more than 1,000-mile trek by bike, train, motorcycle, plane, you name it, to the new California campus in San Diego.

Wednesday marked the kickoff of the journey with Laurie Cullen, ND, zipping the book via bicycle from campus to the clinic, where Jane Guiltinan, ND, resumed the bike journey to downtown Seattle, where the Spring for Health Luncheon was being held. And yes, you'll see her ride in for valet bike service. After the luncheon, University co-founder Joseph Pizzorno, ND, and board member Moira Fitzpatrick, ND, rode Dr. Pizzorno's motorcycle to the Space Needle for a Seattle-appropriate photo shoot.

If you'd like to follow along, check in here, like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. And now, the photos:

Bastyr Center Shines in Regional Survey

As Bastyr employees, most of us can appreciate the quality of care and communication offered by the faculty and student clinicians at Bastyr Center. It's nice to know that most clinic patients agree, and that in fact, BCNH is exceptional among our peers in these areas. Earlier this month, the Puget Sound Health Alliance released the results of a recent patient satisfaction survey. Not surprisingly, we're very proud of the results, so we have been spreading the word through varied media channels.

From the press release: 
According to the Puget Sound Health Alliance, the initiative, called Your Voice Matters, marks the first time any organization in Washington state has asked patients about their experience of care in the primary care setting. Then it compared the results of 40 other medical groups with clinics in 156 locations across Puget Sound. Bastyr Center was one of only three medical groups to score above 90th percentile on all four of the publicly reported measures.
Read the whole thing.

Here's a table from the report that shows our numbers compared with the Puget Sound average and 90th percentile:

Well done, clinic faculty, staff and student clinicians!

Bastyr on KING5-TV's Healthlink - May 4, 2012

Nice job by Jamey Wallace, ND, Cheryl Cuevas from the AOM department and student Kelsey Asplin in this video clip on KING5-TV with anchor Jean Enersen. The segment is about natural relief for allergies.
 

Fun Photos for GiveBIG

If you follow our Facebook pages or Twitter, you probably noticed the theme on Wednesday: GiveBIG. It was an effort between marketing and development to promote a day of giving as part of the Seattle Foundation's GiveBIG event. We took in $3500 and the Seattle Foundation will also match a portion of this total, so we did well!

As part of that promotion, we had a fun photo shoot with some happy Bastyr Center patients, who all had glowing, wonderful things to say about the care they've received from our faculty and students. As a member of the marketing team, I don't have a lot of direct contact with clinic patients, so it was another good reminder of why we're here.

Here are a few shots of Wayne, Margi, Georgia Rae, Anne and Lorrin - some serious poses, some a little more fun, along with some of their thoughts on the care at Bastyr Center. My favorite? The shot of Wayne walking his poodle, Jasper.

"The students and faculty at Bastyr Center changed my life. Through their care, I have learned to effectively overcome both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. It has been a long path to wellness, but having a partner alongside you can make all the difference. I found that partnership in the team of care providers at Bastyr Center." - Lorrin

"If your doctor says you can’t dance anymore, don’t put away your dancing shoes until you go to Bastyr! Twenty years ago, I was misdiagnosed with lupus. I was miserable. On my very first visit to Bastyr Center, it was determined that it was instead Epstein Barr Virus, which is treatable. Two weeks after that first appointment I felt like someone had given me back the last 10 years of my life." - Margi

"My care team checks in with me as a person and asks me about my life — it isn't just about the chart and the symptoms. The sliding payment scale is a major help on my income. Providers don't treat me any differently because I pay less, like they do at other clinics. It really feels like a higher standard of care." - Georgia Rae

"Bastyr Center for Natural Health has become my home away from home for the past year. Three years ago, I began suffering from the excruciating pain of plantar fasciitis severe heel spurs in both feet. At that time I was told I would always have pain and trouble, and I did. I was scared that I would never be able to walk without severe pain. Today, I am more active than I thought possible, enjoying walking my dog several times a day." - Anne

"Thanks to the students and faculty at Bastyr Center for Natural Health, my poodle, Jasper, and I go on great walks, exploring this beautiful city together. Three years ago, while cleaning my garage, I suffered a back injury that left my mobility severely limited. I was in chronic pain, and needed immediate relief that I could not seem to find. A friend referred me to Bastyr and now, I can happily say that I am pain-free." - Wayne

Bastyr in the Media, May 4, 2012

Here are a few highlights of recent media coverage that features Bastyr University experts ... and buildings. Read on and you'll understand what I mean:

Jason Allen, ND, MPH, leads us off with his appearance on KOMO4-TV's 11 a.m. newscast April 26, 2012. The photo above shows him during his live interview with news anchor Peggy Bunker in which he discussed his sauna/detox research study. Yes, he's leading a study that pays people to sit in a sauna. Sign me up! (A video of this appearance is on its way to our YouTube channel.)

You don't have to wear a cape to be a superhero. Just ask Parent Map Magazine, which did a piece on Bastyr's own Penny Simkin, PT. They called her a Superhero for Washington families and it's true: Penny has helped 11,000 families prepare for childbirth since 1968, is described as "internationally revered childbirth educator," by The Seattle Times and has authored several books on the subject. Oh yeah, the Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations is also named after her.

The Mother Nature Network has searched the globe and found one of the greenest dorms in the world, in our own backyard. Yes, add the title "One of the 10 Greenest Dorms in the World" to the long list of awards the Bastyr University Student Village has won. Having personally spent time in the dorms, I can attest that they are truly world-class. If you've never been inside one of the buildings, you owe it to yourself to do so!

Lots of buzz about results from a new diabetes study that shows complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) added to conventional medicine holds various positive benefits for people with type 2 diabetes, compared with those who only receive conventional medicine. Bastyr's Ryan Bradley, ND, MPH, participated in the study, which was picked up by dozens of publications including MedicalNewsToday.com and EveryDayHealth.com.

Joshua Rubinstein, ND, hit the airwaves on April 16, 2012 and was interviewed for a piece about seasonal allergy remedies. KOMO NewsRadio anchor Ana Kelly put this piece together. You can read about and listen to it once you click on the link. Nice job, Joshua!

Finally, numerous local newspapers, including the Everett Herald covered the opening of Bastyr's new natural clinic at the Edmonds Senior Center. It is the only off-site natural clinic Bastyr has in Snohomish County, and is booked for the next several months. Glad to see the media is picking up on what many of us already know: Bastyr University is doing some newsworthy and wonderful things!

Bastyr's Wikipedia Pages Overhauled

We've recently beefed up Bastyr's presence on a website that attracts some 400 million visitors each month. The site? Wikipedia. The University and clinic already had Wikipedia pages, but we saw an opportunity to let the site do a lot more (free) work for us.

Potential students and patients can now find much more information on the Bastyr University page, including academic programs, continuing ed and conference services, research programs and the California campus. The clinic page now includes more information about our services, treatment philosophy, special rates and external sites. We've also tweaked the John Bastyr page. Soon we'll add more photos to all of the pages.

Since Wikipedia is a collaborative project, we can't control those pages. But we'll monitor to keep them in good shape. If you see anything amiss and aren't sure how to fix it yourself, feel free to drop me a line (jhiskes@bastyr.edu).

Bastyr Messages Hit the Airwaves

Have you heard? As part of our spring promotional campaigns for Bastyr University and Bastyr Center for Natural Health (which also include bus ads), the marketing department has placed a number of radio spots on two local stations.

This year, we're promoting University admissions with underwriting spots on KEXP (90.3 FM). As a member-supported, independent station, KEXP reaches an audience brimming with potential Bastyr students. We're rotating multiple spots in an effort to promote a number of specific programs without trying to cram them all into a single sound byte. Our underwriting announcements are sprinkled through the day.

Here's an example:


To promote patient recruitment at Bastyr Center, we aimed to share our message with women aged 25-55, especially those with children in the home. KWRM (106.9 FM) far outranks all other local stations with this group and reaches a very large total audience. We opted for a single, shorter message on KWRM. You can hear clinic advertisements read live by the DJ each weekday during the afternoon drive time.

Here's a recording of a recent spot:


Both radio campaigns run through mid-May, so tune in and take a listen!

Bastyr News Invites 34,000 to Herb & Food Fair

The May edition of Bastyr News went out to more than 34,000 subscribers over the weekend, spreading news of the Herb and Food Fair; the Bastyr Book Journey that kicks off at the Spring for Health Luncheon on May 16; and the upcoming visit from internationally recognized herbal expert Alain Touwaide, PhD, our first visiting scholar through the William A. Mitchell, Jr., ND, Memorial Fund for Botanical Medicine.

We also shared "green" kitchen tips that included a recipe for natural homemade dishwasher detergent, as well as recipe for Pecan Date Bon Bons, which are lovingly made by students in Bastyr's Whole Foods Nutrition class every quarter.

If you haven't already subscribed to Bastyr News, you can sign up at bastyr.edu/newsletter-subscription-form.