The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is inviting people to participate in Wishing Well, a new blog designed to connect and engage the community, patient families, doctors, nurses and others who raise and care for babies and children.
Posts are written by a wide range of contributors, including faculty, staff and a group of community bloggers.
The blog also invites the public to share their parenting experiences and tips. Topics covered range from advice for getting a baby to sleep to questions parents often ask about anesthesia.
“The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has a long-standing commitment to supporting and empowering parents with evidence-based health information and medical care for their families,” said Luke Gregory, CEO of Children’s Hospital.
“We do this in our hospitals and clinics. We do this in our community outreach and education. And as more and more parents go online for their health and wellness information, we are there for them, too — on our website, in social media channels such as Facebook, and on Wishing Well.”
Blogs are well-established social media platforms that organizations and companies across many industries have adopted to communicate and engage with their customers and the public.
Wishing Well is the latest component of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s broader social media strategy to engage directly with patients and the community on issues related to health care and wellness.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that eight in 10 Internet users have gone online to find health information and two-thirds of users participate in social media platforms such as Facebook.
Use of social media, and blogs in particular, is even more striking among mothers, according to BlogHer, a women’s blogger community and media company. Some 79 percent of mothers are active on social media daily, and 84 percent report using advice from blogs when making important purchasing decisions.
Explore the blog and subscribe at ChildrensWishingWell.org.
Faculty, staff and patient families may also learn more about contributing a post by emailing the community manager, Jessica Turner, at Jessica.Turner@vanderbilt.edu.
