Tuesday, April 28th, 2015

Health Media & Technology Track

Track V: The Ballroom Terrace - Live Webcast from this Room

3:50 PM - 5:00 PM

Health and Wellness Media, Advertising & Communication: From TV to Digital Strategies

David Mays, Communications Director, Kaiser Permanente

Seema Wadhwa, Assistance Vice President, Sustainability and Wellness, Inova Health System

Carla Parker, Director of Client Performance, athenahealth

Lisa Waters, EVP, Health, Edelman PR

Matt Paxton, A&E Show, "Hoarders"

Moderator, Patrice Smith, Health Industry Consultant

Seema Wadhwa, Assistance Vice President, Sustainability and Wellness, Inova Health System: Ms. Seema Wadhwa created and oversees the Sustainability Division at Urban Ltd. where she develops and implements environmentally sustainable strategies for the healthcare industry. Current projects include the Director of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) and the Director of Sustainability for Inova Health System.  In her role with HHI, Ms. Wadhwa leads a team in engaging and empowering hospitals in the pursuit of environmental sustainability. Ms. Wadhwa oversees campaign management including development of collateral, outreach strategy, coordination of internal and external stakeholders and budget administration. Ms. Wadhwa represents HHI in local, regional, national and international sustainable healthcare discussion to support visibility surrounding aims and achievements. Current portfolio includes over 700 hospitals across the U.S. and Canada.

Matt Paxton has always been an entrepreneur; he started out as a child selling gum on the school bus and making a 70% profit. He was an analyst for the Federal Reserve right out of college, invented an all natural cleaner for flip-flops, owned a wet suit company and even tried selling pre-cut limes to Budweiser. Matt was determined to keep trying to find an area of business he could be successful in and make a lot of money. In 2006 Clutter Cleaners came to him as a way to pay rent. His first project was cleaning out his grandmother's basement. The amazing look of relief and joy on Matt's grandmother's face when the job was done immediately convinced Matt that this was a service people really needed, and Clutter Cleaner was born. He started out relocating senior citizens and now his company is featured on A&E's hit reality series, Hoarders. Matt helps compulsive hoarders clean out their homes and clean up their lives. He even tries to connect more with his fans, answering their questions live on the show's website after his show airs.  Clutter Cleaner doesn't view anyone's things as "junk" to just be removed. There is an understanding that there's a reason you have everything and that some things are more difficult to part with than others. Matt says he is most excited about finishing his first book, Secret Lives of Hoarders: True Stories of Tackling Extreme Clutter, which is set to be released in May of 2011. However unlikely, hoarding has become part of the pop culture landscape. Matt Paxton knows this very well. He has made it into a half million dollar a year business that employs six full-time employees. Several television shows and books on the subject of hoarding have recently become popular among wide audiences. However, Paxton faces the difficult task of working with people who have taken hoarding to a new level that has overrun their lives and homes. Paxton has become a star on the hit A&E show, Hoarders. He offers a look into the shocking world of people who have problems with hoarding while he tries to help them clean up their lives and get the help they need. It's no surprise that he has recently become increasingly popular with viewers of the show. He is a professional cleaner, not a therapist like many of the other contributors on the show. Therefore he is able to let his personality and thoughts come out more freely. People often praise him for speaking his mind, saying what other people are thinking, and being tough on the hoarders who need a strong-willed person to help them with their disorder.

Carla Parker is Director of Client Performance at athenahealth, responsible for helping providers and practices optimize performance through network intelligence and evidence-based practices. Prior to her current role, Carla led teams in Professional Services and Account Management teams responsible for athena’s Northeast Region ensuring successful onboarding and client relationships.  Carla joined athenahealth in 2004 when the company was only 100 employees strong, and today athenahealth is a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records (EHR), revenue cycle management and billing services, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health management, and includes Epocrates and other point-of-care mobile apps. Carla and her colleagues at athenahealth are passionate about helping our 62,000 provider network stay focused on delivering and connecting patient care while driving meaningful, measurable results for their practices and health systems.  For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com.

Patrice Smith, PR/Communications Consultant: Patrice Smith has an extensive background in public relations and communications. Over the past two decades, she has honed her skills in corporate, nonprofit and agency settings. She has managed high profile corporate communications departments at health care, pharmaceutical and financial services companies. Patrice has focused on executive and employee communications, book promotion, video production, speaker placements, media relations, crisis communications, stakeholder engagement and public affairs. Patrice has a BA in Public Relations from San Jose State University. She is also a member of the Public Relations Society of America. In her spare time, she lends her communications skills to various nonprofit organizations.

David Mays, Director, Public Relations and Communications, Kaiser Permanente : David leads strategic communications efforts of Kaiser Permanente C Suite executives and directly supported legendary Chairman and CEO George Halvorson during the final four years of his career in the industry. Kaiser Permanente is the country’s largest integrated health care system serving more than 10 million members with a staff of nearly 200,000 people, generating annual revenue in excess of $55 billion, while scoring top measures in health outcomes and customer satisfaction. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, David worked for Chevron Corporation as part of the company’s Policy, Government & Public Affairs group, leading communications efforts of senior executives and global business units plus managing Chevron TV, the organization’s worldwide video news service. Before joining Chevron, David headed the Creative Services department for the Pentagon Channel - a global news, information and entertainment video service that was available to military members, veterans and civilians on more than 400 domestic military bases, coalition facilities in nearly 200 countries, plus local cable service providers, satellite television and public web - operated by the United States Department of Defense. Earlier, David held a variety of editorial, production, marketing and public relations positions within major market network television affiliates in Seattle, Tampa and Washington, DC. David graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, where he majored in broadcast journalism and earned All-American honors in cross-country and track – thus solidifying a life-long commitment to fitness, exercise, nutrition and total health.