Officer Bizzo gets his due in ‘Everyday Hopkins’ article series

During the early days of social media, Johns Hopkins Medicine wanted to strategize an approach to engaging with people online. What type of stories could it tell? One of the first answers: “We can tell the story of Officer Bizzo. Everyone knows him.” Years later, Officer Bizzo has gotten his due, and it’s earned Johns Hopkins first place in the “Interview or Profile” category of Ragan’s 2017 Employee Communications Awards.

Billy “Bizzo” Robinson worked as a Johns Hopkins security guard from 1972 until his retirement in 2017. During his tenure there, he touched many lives. He lent assistance to employees, patients and families. Students got to know him.

In an interview that resulted from a suggestion by the corporate security department, the writer made the story more than a simple profile, allowing Bizzo to share more than 40 years’ worth of memories. 

Published as part of the “Everyday Hopkins” series of profiles, the Bizzo piece appeared in the biweekly “Hopkins Insider” newsletter and shared in the daily email newsletter. In short order, the article became one of the most-read articles of the month. 

The profile produced more than 20 comments, like “Officer Bizzo is a real blessing to this community. He always has a smile to offer, and a friendliness to everyone that comes by. He really does look out for all of the community. He can teach us all by his great example.” 

The internal comms team shared the article, driving a fresh set of comments and making it the most-commented of any profile. 

Congratulations to the profile’s writer, Katelynn Sachs.