As a healthcare public relations agency, we at Aria Marketing are certainly no strangers to reactive pitching opportunities. When the Department of Health and Human Services releases a new draft plan, we are ready to pitch our clients’ expertise on how the rules might impact the industry. When a new data breach is reported, we know which reporters will want to hear from an expert on what went wrong and how other organizations can prevent such an incident. However, while politics and healthcare are deeply intertwined, it is not every day that we pitch a client to discuss a potential national security threat. The U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January, however, presented that opportunity.

As we’ve entered week 10 of social distancing here in Massachusetts, all eyes are on strategies for resuming activities without compromising safety. Working at a healthcare-focused PR agency like Aria during the COVID-19 pandemic has given us insight not only on the acute effects of the crisis, but on the wider-reaching consequences the virus has on the industry. With quarantine and stay-at-home orders in place, people have missed routine and non-emergent medical appointments, forgoing care that they might have sought in a more normal circumstance.

The entire world is experiencing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic as it is impacting every facet of our lives from our jobs, to the way we shop for groceries, to social engagements and more. In particular, the content of the news has changed with the majority of information now being shared through the lens of COVID-19. As a healthcare PR agency, Aria is uniquely positioned to support our healthcare clients (who provide services across the industry) during this period of uncertainty.

Anniversaries are a big deal at Aria. We know that working at a PR agency can be challenging and we pride ourselves on offering our staff an awesome work environment and great perks that makes them want to stick around for years. Regardless of whether it is your one year anniversary or your 15 year anniversary, we celebrate our employees – and our anniversary awards program is just one of the many ways we do so!

We’ve had a slew of anniversaries over the last few months (including my own!) as we’ve retained 93% our staff in 2019, so we thought this would be the perfect time to shine a light on some of the anniversary rewards our employees have selected recently.