The experience became a story, then a proposal.
The logline
Is there a rise in fear of going to the hospitals or visiting the doctors for treatment due to a mistrust that is growing with time?
The Story
Sometime back my mother wasn’t keeping well. So, I decided to take her to the hospital and see a doctor but to my surprise instead of agreeing to my idea immediately (as she was in a lot of discomfort) she not only rejected it but also vehemently refused to go. After all my efforts to persuade her failed, I eventually settled down with an answer to an obvious question as consolation – why? I repeatedly asked her why she didn’t want to go to the doctor, visit the hospital and get herself treated. She tried her best to deflect the question but my frustration seeing her suffer so much made me hound her. After all I am her son, it is natural for me to have similar attributes- I am as stubborn as she is! She finally gave in and answered…what she said shocked me more than it surprised me. ‘Hospitals would rob us and persist with the case to milk us gradually till I breathe my last’, she said all of it in one breath leaving my mind ringing with myriad questions, doubts and memories till it all stopped at the obvious why? …again. Life went back to usual after this day and she started complaining less, something which I still doubt that she was concealing as she is good in hiding her pain both physical and emotional. Fate would test us again as this time, I fell sick and it was not looking good. My wife suggested we get an opinion though against my mother opposed the decision again and this time with much more force…in hindsight I think it must have been more to do with a skeptic mother’s love for her son! But the interesting thing about this whole new health episodein our family was that this time even I was a little reluctant and strangely for the same reasons as of my mother’s. Though filtered and self-explained with logic and reasons so many times mentally, I observed that my fear still remained… Well…albeit against my mother’s will but I did go to the Hospital and got my vitals checked, ran a basic screening to check if everything was alright and by God’s grace it was… Now sometime later I still think about the take away from the two experiences, I wonder about the fear of going to the doctor or the hospital…is it a common issue?, do people in general have it but not all express it?, is there a trust factor mutating abnormally? Intense crossfire of thoughts in mind everyday has made the communication professional within realize that perhaps the solution to this problem lies in communication, which if designed strategically can eventually allay the unspoken fear/phobia of the patients coming to the hospitals to get treated willingly or unwillingly ( the latter is self-explanatory now.)
The Proposal
So, here is my proposal to all the decision makers to consider, we can partner to solve this problem by designing audio visual communication which would also be a part of the brand promise. The messaging, content and targeting will be more precise and aimed at improving trust and engagement of patients. It will be all pervasive and include all departments as building trust cannot be a siloed in a function or department. As a creative agency, I am willing to work on developing the communications ideas absolutely for free and factor in commercials only when we get into production. I believe this would give me an opportunity to become part of the your team and strike a synergy together in developing and executing the communications which eventually would contribute in full filling the brand promise and of course benefit the end users – the patients!
We deeply believe that everyone is entitled to good healthcare. We must create transparency and remove biases towards it and support healthcare sector in its journey towards a true purpose.
Looking forward to achieve this together.