Working with Catalyst is easy. Tell us a little about your organization below. One of our strategists will get back to you shortly to learn more about your goals.
Working with Catalyst is easy. Tell us a little about your organization below. One of our strategists will get back to you shortly to learn more about your goals.
In this project, we partnered with Special Olympics Washington to address the critical healthcare challenges for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Start Your Project TodayFor over 75 years, Special Olympics has advocated for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The organization’s commitment to inclusion goes beyond its athletic programs, though. In the Pacific Northwest, the organization’s Washington chapter is living this mission by addressing a critical, and often overlooked, challenge for its constituents: equitable access to healthcare.
This focus has led to a partnership between Special Olympics Washington and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health— an initiative that provides inclusive health training certifications for medical providers in the state. The collaborative program was designed to help practices and other types of support services understand the unique needs of people with IDD and how to treat them.
As Special Olympics Washington’s Agency of Record, Catalyst was asked to deliver a communications strategy that would allow the organization to begin socializing the initiative, seek out sponsors, and implement key objectives. Our strategy included a three-part plan to build the brand’s identity, establish a central information and services hub, and get word out to the providers it would need to attract in order to execute the plan.
Importantly, our work needed to include a way to connect individuals with IDD to the growing list of newly certified providers. To do it, we decided to build a provider portal that would allow athletes to search and connect with qualified providers based on a list of their own personal needs—ranging from location variables to payment types to specialized assistance and practice areas.
We began by developing a cohesive brand identity for the Alliance for Inclusive Health (AIH) that would resonate with both patients and providers. This included logos and lockups as well as a brand book that helped shape the initiative’s presence across owned, earned, and shared collateral. It could also be used to help certified healthcare providers communicate their participation in the program and attract additional patients.
We then moved into the website and portal development, using the brand materials to create a platform with intuitive navigation and a seamless user experience. The site not only explained the initiative's mission, partners, and goals, it also included the Provider Portal - a two-sided marketplace, which allowed athletes and their circles-of-care to view and select from certified partners.
Finally, we launched a strategic public relations and awareness campaign to ensure the initiative reached its intended audience—practitioners, researchers, and people with IDD and their families across Washington state. The program launch included a Special Olympics athlete throwing out the first pitch at a Mariners baseball game.
Our campaign quickly drew hundreds of healthcare providers from across the state, with more being trained on an ongoing basis. With a new portal to help people with IDD find them, the initiative’s site has already received thousands of unique requests. The campaign is not only helping to connect athletes and medical professionals, but also offering a level of agency for people with IDD that is fundamental to the values of inclusion and personal dignity that Special Olympics stands for. The project’s success has been a testament to the power of mission-driven partnerships.
“Catalyst has been an invaluable partner in the fight to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities get access to safe and equitable health care. ”
