DPH Office of the Inspector General Investigations Supervisor Mike Pearson, athlete Tina Ryleigh, and  Investigator Marc Williams gather for a picture at the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Indoor Winter Games for Special Olympics Georgia.

To look at Mike Pearson, you might be a little intimidated. After all, he did spend 25 years as a police officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department. But Pearson, who, after retiring from the police force, became an investigations supervisor with the Georgia Department of Public Health's (DPH) Office of the Inspector General, has a soft side. For 22 years, he has volunteered with the Special Olympics of Georgia.  

Pearson participated in the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) 2012 Indoor Winter Games for Special Olympics of Georgia Opening Ceremony that took place January 20 at the Cobb County Civic Center. Over 1,500 Georgia athletes competed in six different sports: artistic gymnastics, bowling, floor hockey, basketball, power lifting and roller skating during the three day event.  

The LETR is a running event in which law enforcement officers and Special Olympic athletes carry the Flame of Hope to the Opening Ceremony of local Special Olympics competitions, state/provincial Games and National Summer or Winter Games. During the opening ceremony of the Winter Games, the top five fundraising law enforcement agencies had the opportunity to carry the torch in a relay around Cobb Civic Center with other participants from law enforcement running with them. Pearson, along with Investigator Marc Williams, was one of those participants. 

 

For the past eight months, the Georgia Department of Public Health's (DPH) Division of Communications, in collaboration with the agency's Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program, has been working with WIC staff from all 18 public health districts to create new marketing collateral for Georgia's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children also known as WIC. 

This week, public health districts across the state began receiving shipments of the new marketing and nutrition education materials. 

From the development of a new WIC logo to brochures, flyers,  posters and even a revised online nutrition education website, this program now has a fresh, clean look and, rooted in careful research and district collaboration, is poised to increase WIC participation levels. 

"When we began looking at the existing marketing materials we immediately noticed a problem," DPH Director of Communications Ryan Deal said. "The print collateral that had been in place for years was no longer having an impact." 

  

 

Northwest Georgia Public Health's Health Services Program Manager, Lisa Greeby, smiles at the ironic juxtaposition of tobacco advertising and the Georgia Tobacco Quit Line promotion on the Gas Station TV pump screen at a Floyd County Walmart. "When you're going head-to-toe with the tobacco industry on a comparatively infinitesimal budget, it's crucial every penny is spent wisely and cost-effectively," says Greeby.  "We get that with GSTV."

The health promotion folks at Northwest Georgia Public Health are first in Georgia, and among the first nationwide, to use at-the-gas-pump television to deliver public health messaging.  "We're working with Gas Station TV (GSTV), the largest national away-from-home television network, to deliver 30-second spots promoting the Georgia Tobacco Quit Line to a captive audience at a natural pause point in their day when they can't channel surf or skip past the message with a DVR," explains Health Services Program Manager Lisa Greeby. 

"We have people's undivided attention; there's no multi-tasking, just pumping" Greeby says.  "Using GSTV, we're able to reach viewers at the pump in nine of our ten counties with one-to-one public health messaging. The four-week buy will deliver about a quarter-of-a-million impressions at nine northwest Georgia Walmart multi-pump, multi-screen gas stations."                                         

Greeby says at-the-pump television is an effective, targeted media buy.  GSTV delivers Nielsen Media Research-verified information on viewership, demographics, dwell time, network size and recall. "When you're going head-to-toe with the tobacco industry on a comparatively infinitesimal budget, it's crucial every penny is spent wisely and cost-effectively," says Greeby.  "We get that with GSTV."