Community Health Center: Lynn Community Health Center
Lynn, Massachusetts | www.lchcnet.org
Contact: Cindy Steger-Wilson, Marketing and Communications Manager and Debbie Smith-Walsh, Community Relations Manager
Flash mobs are a unique and interesting way to provide health messaging to the community through the use of music, dance, and public spaces. On August 9, 2012, the staff of Lynn Community Health Center and several community partners joined together to stage a flash mob to promote healthy behavior and raise awareness about their health center. As a result, the community of Lynn received important health messages, while the Center increased its visibility locally and nationally. A video of the flash mob was one of the winning entries of NACHC’s National Health Center Photo & Video Contest.
Trying to come up with a creative entry for the contest, two members of Lynn Community Health Center’s marketing and communications team, decided upon the flash mob idea. They wanted to involve staff and community members. In order to get buy-in and participation, the team recruited health center staff and some community partners. A minute-to-minute plan was developed for the participants, with easy and clear instructions to follow, including the exact time to leave their desks and go outside, and how to melt back into the crowd when the flash mob was over. By asking for only 15 minutes of people’s time and creating a simple dance routine, they found it was easy to gain enthusiasm and participation.
The dance was coordinated by a community health worker from the health center, who is also a salsa instructor. She created a two-step dance move that was easy to learn and which anyone could do. She choreographed the dance to salsa music reflecting the Latino culture, which makes up a large number of the Lynn population. The organizers alerted local police and city hall about their plans, so to avoid any unforeseen problems with the city. Once everyone was on board, they were asked to keep the flash mob a secret. That way, the flash mob would feel spontaneous and have a greater impact. Communication was done regularly through email.
On August 9, 2012 at noon, as people attended the farmer’s market at the city’s central square, the flash mob performed the two-minute, choreographed dance. The theme of the flash mob was Live Well, Be Well. Thus, in addition to dancing, the group held up signs that contained health promotion messages, including “Get a Good Night’s Sleep”, “Eat more fruits and vegetables” and “Ride your bike”. A total of 60 people participated, including kids and young adults from their partners’ projects and their local Congressman John Tierney.
The flash mob was a success and is still talked about in the community. Lynn Community Health Center garnered a lot of attention, and their flash mob was covered extensively in the local media. Further, volunteers, including a videographer, three camera people and a video editor, provided the use of their equipment and shot a video of the flash mob. Then, Lynn Community Health Center submitted the video to NACHC’s National Health Center Photo & Video Contest during the 2012 National Health Center Week, and their entry won. The video is on YouTube, and received over 2,400 views. The attention received for the flash mob provided Lynn Community Health Center with the opportunity to get their message out and gain a wider audience. The flash mob will also be used as a fundraising and marketing tool. Most importantly, the flash mob brought the staff and its community partners together and reinforced the feeling of pride and teamwork among them all.
The success of the flash mob showed that a simple and low-cost idea, coupled with creativity and partnerships, can have a great impact. The flash mob cost was $30 for the signage materials. Keeping things simple was key. Planning for a flash mob is fairly easy; however, the surprise element of the flash mob is where it has the greatest impact. So a flash mob is something that most likely cannot be done regularly.
About Lynn Community Health Center
The mission of the Lynn Community Health Center is to provide comprehensive healthcare to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. It has served as the primary source of medical services in Lynn, one of the most medically underserved communities in the Commonwealth, since 1971. It provided over 190,000 outpatient encounters for 34,486 patients this past year – over one out of every three Lynn residents and 41% of its children. The Health Center provides a full scope of health care services to the community: pediatric, family practice, adult medical and ob/gyn primary care services, specialty services, behavioral health and social services, health education, family planning, comprehensive HIV/AIDS services, nutrition services, a dental clinic, and eye clinic, and pharmacy services.