Barb Cramer is the director of Video News Services at VUMC.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s News and Public Affairs Office has won a Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Silver Award for its Video News Release (VNR) Project. Barb Cramer, director of Video News Services, writes and produces the VNRs.
A silver and a bronze medal were awarded in the VNR category, announced last week by CASE.
The VUMC entry was a sampling of the VNR project. Stories submitted were Brachy Therapy, a new technology developed in part by VUMC that uses radiation to keep blood vessels open; Pain/Symptom Management, a new multi-disciplinary program developed by VUMC that offers cancer patients pain/symptom management in one clinic visit; and Toys/Hearing Loss, a general education story about the dangers of hearing loss from noisy children’s toys.
The News and Public Affairs Office produces and distributes 36 video news releases each year, covering stories on medical research, patient care, new medical techniques, and informational/educational topics. The television health reports are supplied to 19 commercial TV stations in eight states. The VNRs are broadcast on stations regionally and on stations in Miami, Fla., Tampa, Fla., Houston, Texas, and Seattle, Wash. Three national news outlets also use the VNRs. The releases reach more than 4.5 million viewers.
Vanderbilt’s VNRs have won several prior national CASE Awards and have been recognized for outstanding work.