Nurses are honored by one patient’s mother

Kathy Taylor stayed by her son Tom’s side during his time at Holmes Regional Medical Center, a Health First hospital. Sadly, Tom ultimately died from heart failure, the result of heroin addiction. But the thank-you letter Kathy Taylor wrote to the hospital’s nurses was so moving that it became the basis for a video—one so powerful it’s won first place in the “Internal Communications Video (over $5,000)” in PR Daily’s 2016 Video Awards.

During her time at the hospital, Taylor witnessed the hard work done by the hospital’s nurses. Afterwards she wrote a touching thank-you letter and sent it to them. The letter was first considered to be worth reading at a leadership meeting, but the Marketing and Communications team saw greater potential. 

A two-day photo shoot at each of the network’s hospitals resulted in visuals that aligned with the text. Voice talent was hired to read the letter. The resulting video, “It’s a Nurse,” was shown internally as part of Health First’s Integrated Delivery Network Month, designed to honor all of the organization’s associates. 

The video was used to shine an extra bright light on the work of Health First’s 2,100 hard-working nurses. In addition to the internal views, the video you YouTube currently has been seen nearly 690,000 times. Facebook accounted for another 23,762 views. The video even earned local media coverage. 

The popularity of the video led Health First to bring Kathy Taylor to tell her story in person at each of the system’s hospitals. More than 350 associates came to meet her.

Congratulations to the team of Jeni Hatter, Matthew Gerrell, Shona Price and Three21 Creative.