Signature Stories at UC Health

UC Health, a Colorado healthcare organization headquartered in Boulder, uses signature stories about their patients to communicate their mission, values, and capabilities. The stories catch your eye and leave you with admiration, warm feelings and a sense of pride; pride in how the organization and its caring staff have delivered extraordinary results and how the patient has addressed the challenges faced with optimism and courage. Just hearing each story provides an unforgettable experience.

When you open the website of UC Health, instead of descriptions of the organization and its people, you see a picture of mountain climber Kim Hess exuberantly celebrating being in company of awesome mountain peaks and learn her story. Kim was on her way to conquering the worlds “seven summits” when in June of 2013 she slipped when descending Denali in Alaska. Her left arm was caught in her safety line snapping her wrist and braking bones in her hand. After two days of agonizing pain she got an airlift off the mountain and a plane to Boulder. She told her surgeons that she needed her hand to be perfect for her Mount Everest climb the next year. The hand surgeon, Michael Gordon replied that “It’s a good thing I am a perfectionist.”  

After a 6.5 hour surgery and many months of vigorous therapy, Kim resumed her quest of climbing Everest. Her first attempt was thwarted by a Nepal earthquake, but in May of 2016, Hess stood at the 29,029-foot summit. The lesson for all, she said, is “to be resilient, whatever the setback in life, but also always to be willing to accept the help of others.” She noted specifically the role that her surgeon and therapist played in her story.

Under the patient’s tab on the cover page, you can access some 150 patient signature stories. One describes Becky Polmerleau, a young woman and regular runner, who was skiing in Breckenridge Colorado with her husband celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. At lunch Becky experienced chest pains and a numbness in her left arm. She confidently observed that it could not be a heart attack because she was both young and fit. But it turned out that the lining of her artery was coming lose and causing blog clots. She was airlifted to UC Health in Bolder where they found that her heart was barely functioning.

After 14 days of being kept alive by a machine, a doctor came into her room to say that had a heart for her. In a video describing Becky’s story, we see the surgical team at work during the heart transplant operation and their reflections of the magical outcome. The transplant took, thanks to her surgical team, and she eventually went back to running and skiing. A follow-on video described Becky’s emotional trip to see the mother of the heart donor. The mother heard her daughter’s beating heart and learned of Becky’s promise that she will not squander the opportunity it has provided.

These stories, presented with professional quality in ads, on the website, on YouTube and other venues, puts you in the shoes of the patient because of their detail and emotion. They are the vehicle by which UC Health describes who they are. They follow on from the mission—to improve lives through learning, healing, discovery and human connection—and from its three values, the first of which is “patients first.” The Chief Marketing and Experience Office, Manny Rodriguez summarizes the experience of UC Health with the advice to other firms to talk about customers/clients instead of yourselves. So true. Audiences that really do not care about you or your offering do get drawn into signature stores and will not only learn but feel. 

You can read more about signature stories in my latest book 'Creating Signature Stories'.