Variety Care Backgrounder

I had the opportunity to hone my writing skills by being able to create a variety of public relations pieces for my writing class at the University of Oklahoma. We got to each select a local nonprofit to be our "client" when creating press releases, fact sheets and calendars.

Variety Care is a local healthcare facility in Norman that provides care and medical access to people in the community that isn't able to afford medical care. I really enjoyed learning more about Variety Care and creating practice content in my 2020 PR Writing class at OU.

This backgrounder was completed in March 2020, and written alongside press releases to media personnel and press writers to give them a brief synopsis of the history, purpose and mission of the organization or client PR specialists are creating content for. The main objective is to simply pass alongside information in a brief and formatted page. I got to utilize my writing and editing skills, alongside with learning how to research organizations. I enjoyed the challenge of practicing on condensing my writing into a brief and professional format. I learned that Backgrounders are important because they help press writers gain information about my organization, and with a little bit of research and a little touch of color and creative formatting, they can be clean, fresh and ultimately a big help for both the client and the media personnel.

I've dropped my work below, enjoy!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Information:

March 9, 2020 Haley Towe

Public Relations Director

Variety Care Foundation

405-632-6688

htowe@varietycare.org

Variety Care

OVERVIEW

Variety Care is a nonprofit organization that provides routine medical services to the Oklahoma community that isn’t able to afford regular medical help. A growing issue in Oklahoma is the state’s access to medical care for the more common illnesses or routine procedures. When families go through tough times, they often can’t afford routine care for common illnesses, or will go to an Emergency Room to receive help. Variety Care fights to fix this issue and calls for families to come to the facility for medical care instead of going to overcrowded Emergency Rooms. The center offers walk-ins in two facilities, and gives solutions and treatments on the same day patients visit.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Amy Dunn, President

Andrew Lasser, Vice President

MaryAnn Martin, Secretary

Jared Deck, Treasurer

• Variety Care was founded in 2009 by the joining of two nonprofits: Oklahoma Community Health Services and Variety Health Center

• Variety Care has nine facilities located in Oklahoma City, two located in Norman, and three centers in southwest Oklahoma.

• In 2018, the center had over 304,750 total encounters, with more than 160,500 medical visits, 30,750 dental checkups and 5,750 vision appointments.

Emergency Rooms Routine Medical Healthcare

Variety Care’s goal is to improve Oklahoma by - Medical care for infants to age 18

assisting the community’s health as a whole. One - Primary health care to adults

of the main issues Variety Care is fighting to fix - Dental exams and cleanings

is the amount of people that rely on emergency - Orthodontics

rooms for their routine care due to the lack of - Eye exams for adults and children

insurance and ability to afford regular doctors - Glasses services

and their care. When people depend on receiving - Women’s health and annual exams

treatment only when their health is critical, they - Pregnancy and newborn care

are potentially risking future chronic problems - Teen Clinic and sex education

that would easily have been treated with regular - On-site pharmacy

medical care. The amount of patients going to the

ER in place of going to a normal doctor’s office

is increasing, leading to the overcrowding of

emergency rooms throughout Oklahoma. Variety

Care is fighting back against this issue in hopes

of improving the communities health as a whole

and giving care for patients without asking anything

in return.

Issues on Affordability and Healthcare

One of America’s biggest issues in the healthcare system is affordability. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services states that the average person or child spends over nine thousand dollars in the American healthcare system, meaning an average household of three people could cost over 24 thousand dollars. Healthcare isn’t distributed equally, leaving many of the lower-income families to spend more of their income for medical help than families of higher-income. When medical care ends up taking over 46 percent of the average family’s income, many would just rather wait in an emergency room to get treated for routine medical services than pay that amount annually. Variety Care is working hard to help give care to families in Oklahoma to decrease worry about annual health care costs. The Variety Care Foundation is here to provide medical help to all, to increase the medical care for the entire Oklahoma community.

###