Public Health

Worth More Than Gold

Gold In 1993, Cyrano was awarded a contract to provide writing and editorial services to the Oregon Health Division (now Oregon Health Services). The charge: Establish publication standards and provide hands-on direction to improve the clarity, consistency, and effectiveness of agency documents.

From AIDS to zits, name a public health issue and chances are we’ve dealt with it. Over the past decade, we’ve facilitated a series of cross-departmental meetings to explore developing an agency-wide communications effort; conducted a series of communications workshops; and consulted on, written, and/or edited approximately 300 reports, grants, and documents for numerous divisions.

Audiences have included health care providers, public health officials, community-based organizations, policy makers, governmental and nongovernmental agencies, the news media, and the general public at many levels.

Making the Case for Public Health
We dearly value good health, but we tend to take it for granted – until we come face to face with illness. Preventive medicine seems like a good idea, but who can tell if it really works? It’s like trying to measure what doesn’t happen.

In the early 1990s, the Health Division called on us to help spread the word about the vital role that public health plays. The first step was to produce a pocket-sized, easy-to-read brochure that spells out how the taxpayer-supported services and benefits of public health make life better for all Oregonians.

Action on Diabetes
In the mid-1990s, the Health Division led an effort to develop a set of measurable guidelines for monitoring the quality of diabetes care. We helped organize the complex information into a usable format and edited the guidelines and companion assessment report into effective working documents.

In 2001, we collaborated with the Oregon Diabetes Coalition on an effort to help broaden understanding of diabetes in the workplace and raise awareness of how it can be treated and sometimes prevented. From research and multiple interviews, we developed Media Action on Diabetes, a comprehensive press kit containing ready-to-publish human interest stories, interviews, workplace ideas, and fact sheets. The kit was distributed to corporate communications and human resources departments, media outlets, and health agencies throughout Oregon.

Representative projects include:

Oregon Nutrition Plan (2003)	Oregon Physical Activity Plan (2003)	Oregon Family Planning Program Manual (2005)	Combined Annual Report, HIV, STD, TB (1999)
Oregon Youth Suicide Prevention Plan (2000)	School-based Health Center Report (2002)	Annual Report, Oregon Child Fatality Review (1999)	Report on HIV/AIDS among People of Color (1998)