Building Partnerships Can Turn Unknown Neighbors into Loyal Customers

ChoiceOne Urgent Care in Forest Hill, MD is taking a back-to-school community donation program to the next level by hosting a party that will bring generous neighbors together to benefit others—while at the same time getting to know ChoiceOne staff and checking out the facility. ChoiceOne and its partner, University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, enlisted local media to invite the public to a Back to School Bash, to which they were encouraged to bring donated school supplies for the Harford County Education Foundation’s Stuff the Bus initiative. To sweeten the deal further, ChoiceOne offered complimentary sports physicals and concussion baseline tests to attendees. Other local businesses like Chik-Fil-A, Sport Clips barber shops, and Smoothie King also took part, offering prospective patrons free goods and services. Bear in mind that employees and owners of those businesses are also residents in the community who have the same needs as anyone—their children wake up with a high fever, they twist their ankles while hiking—so they’re as likely as any of the invited neighbors to think of ChoiceOne when they have immediate medical needs. It’s yet another example of an urgent care operator recognizing its own ability to fulfill an aching need in the community where its patient population lives, thereby ensuring those folks have a positive introduction to the services it offers. What do your neighbors need right now?