Royal Far West Children's Hospital
Healthier, happier country kids.
Strategy and creative implementation for local children's hospital serving the needs of kids in Western NSW and beyond.
Royal Far West marketing strategy
I worked with the business director, Richard Colbran, to develop a marketing strategy and prioritise communications and fundraising deliverables for the organisation. The image above is an example of this work and is how I distilled the entire organisation, its audiences, stakeholders and marketing priorities into a single slide.
An example of some longer form copy written for Royal Far West Children's Hospital
"The third world is just outback
Australia is a great place
For many, Australia represents an outstanding quality of life, envied by the rest of the world. Golden beaches, great food, sporting facilities, shopping malls, businesses and services are close at hand. Basic things like education, employment and healthcare are readily available and more often than not taken for granted. If that’s you, then yes, Australia is a great place to live.
It’s a bloody great big place
But not far from our metropolitan centres, the geography, harsh climate and sparse population in rural areas mean many Australians are governed by a tyranny of distance and other conditions that can mean isolation, frustration, hardship and heartbreak. The nearest shops, schools and hospitals aren’t just down the road...or even the next road...or even the next or the next...they might be hours away. And if you’re after the perfect low-fat-soy-frappa-cino, well, that’s going to be a long drive.
And that’s creating a great big problem
Everyone has the right to the healthcare and education they need, yet 330,000 children in rural Australia — that’s 1 in 3 — have learning and health needs that cannot readily be met locally.
Developmental, behavioural, emotional and mental health disorders, delayed speech, poor motor skills, dyslexia, oral health and poor diet — even something as simple as being able to hold a pencil correctly — are just some of the challenges that affect a child’s ability to learn, interact with others and enjoy life.
Left unaddressed they can lead to significant long-term social, education, health and employment issues, placing a burden on families, schools and communities...and ultimately on our national economy.
The best time to tackle these challenges is when a child is aged between 4 and 7...a time when they are both young enough for patterns to be more easily changed and they are old enough to respond.
Often the indicators are not obvious, requiring an experienced eye to spot them. Some parents are unaware of — or may choose to ignore or simply not understand — problems, others may take their child to the nearest doctor who might be able to help or refer to a suitable specialist - if one is available, and there may be logistical and scheduling problems. In other cases it’s not until a child starts school where teachers quickly identify problems, but may have limited support to address them.
We’ve got a [bloody] great solution
Established in 1924, The Royal Far West children’s health scheme (RFW) is a non-government organisation that gives disadvantaged country children a better chance of leading happier, more productive lives.
Today we offer a unique integrated clinical and educational model of health care delivered through residential, remote and collaborative programs. These have been developed by a team of expert specialists based at our centre in Manly on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
We work hard with schools to identify problems as early as possible, with immediate therapy followed by ongoing support tailored to the needs of the individual. Therapies include paediatric development, disability services, oral health, occupational therapy, speech pathology, physical wellbeing and mental health, all supported by an on-site school, accommodation for families and themed camps to help larger groups facing issues such as Type 1 diabetes. For example the Healthy Kids Bus Stop early intervention program provides invaluable support to local health services by visiting rural areas to identify and address early stage issues amongst children.
Through our globally-recognised and groundbreaking remote Telecare Services and Community Access Programs we’re working closely with local communities and organisations to deliver sustainable healthcare support across New South Wales, Australia....and beyond. Regardless of location, we can now provide high quality, effective and consistent care, delivered by leading clinicians and educators, often in a much shorter timeframe and at a much lower cost than was possible in the past.
But we can’t do it alone
Even though we’re in the fortunate position of being able to leverage our assets so that every cent of every dollar donated goes to the actual delivery of our services, we still rely on the support of our many friends — volunteers, donors, fundraisers, sponsors corporate partners and the New South Wales Government — to support more than 2,000 children and families every year. But many more still wait for help they desperately need. Our goal is to extend our service delivery to more than 15,000 children by 2021.
We will achieve this by continuing to leverage latest technology, innovate service delivery, expand capabilities, build new partnerships, educate the public and increase our own social enterprise activities."
Royal Far West website
An interim website to help the organisation present itself in a more contemporary way whilst working on a more complex, longer-term solution.
Fragility and Friendship
Digital and print design to support a historical exhibition of Royal Far West images hosted at NSW Parliament House.
