The key element of the campaign is the "My Medicines" brochure. Colorful and compact, it includes tips for taking medicines correctly as well as a personal record card for tracking medicine use. Like TTTC, the brochure is designed primarily for women, who use more medication than any other group and often manage medications for their whole family. The purse-sized brochure promotes four key messages: Read the Label, Avoid Problems, Ask Questions, and Keep a Record.
In 1997, FDA/OWH piloted TTTC in Hartford, Connecticut and Chicago, Illinois. From the beginning, the strategy was to maximize OWH's impact by recruiting grassroots partners and leveraging their resources. In each city, OWH staff initiated partnerships with local health and social service organizations, pharmacies, senior centers, religious congregations, universities, women's groups, workplaces and many others to organize and conduct a full week of TTTC activities.
Originally, the campaign expected the two-city pilot campaign to distribute a total of 30,000 campaign materials, including the "My Medicines" brochure. But partner support and public response far exceeded expectations, and they distributed 235,000.
The encouraging results in Hartford and Chicago led to TTTC's expansion in 1998. Enthusiasm spread rapidly, creating a powerful "domino effect" as more organizations got involved. In 1998, with staff support from FDA Public Affairs Specialists and numerous partner organizations, 14 cities, three rural empowerment zones and Indian reservations in 19 states sponsored a week of TTTC activities (see attached for a list of locations).
To increase the campaign's reach, FDA/OWH partnered with NACDS. More than 30 of the organization's member chains printed and distributed TTTC materials through over 6,000 local outlets. Many stores provided pharmacists to speak at local TTTC events and helped advertise program activities. Moreover, stores in eight cities that did not even have a TTTC campaign took the initiative to conduct their own events.
By the end of 1998, with the help of NACDS and local participating organizations, TTTC delivered "My Medicines" brochures to an estimated 1.5 million people. By fostering relationships in many cities among local groups who had never worked together before, local groups worked in tandem to improve the health and well being of residents in their communities.
Building on the campaign's prior successes, in 1999 OWH expanded TTTC to encompass the entire nation. The National Association of Chain Drugstores (NACDS) joined OWH as an official co-sponsor. To maximize TTTC's impact, campaign leaders worked primarily at the national rather than local level, recruiting national organizations as partners. These included organizations representing:
The work of NACDS perfectly exemplifies how national partnerships benefited TTTC. Many of NACDS member companies expanded the campaign to 20,000 chain pharmacies in hundreds of cities and rural locations nationwide. These outlets printed and distributed "My Medicines" brochures and provided pharmacists for interactive community events whenever possible.
As a result of their hard work and innovative collaboration, the campaign's many partners distributed over 6 million "My Medicines" brochures in a single month.
To communicate medicine safety messages to as many women as possible in 1999, TTTC greatly increased its media exposure, starting with a national satellite media tour and press conference conducted by FDA Commissioner Jane E. Henney and NACDS President/DEO Craig L. Fuller to launch the campaign. Ninety-seven media outlets covered the event, resulting in 26 million audience impressions on the first day alone.
TTTC was also the subject of a presidential proclamation, and received a public endorsement from the American Medical Association. Other efforts to broaden the campaign's reach in 1999 included:
In recognition of the campaign's overall success in 1999, Secretary Donna Shalala of the Department of Health and Human Services awarded TTTC the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award for "creating a national network to reach millions of women with the message to Use Medicines Wisely."
Only the response of the target audience measures the true effectiveness of a public education campaign. In the case of Women's Health: Take Time to Care (TTTC), the audience has declared the campaign a near perfect success.
Last October, Merck-Medco Managed Care, LLC sent the "My Medicines" brochure to 1 million of its customers along with a survey to assess recipients' satisfaction. Women responded with an overwhelming approval rating of 99.1%.
The independent evaluation reinforced what campaign leaders believed all along: the brochure and campaign were right on target. The "My Medicines" brochure's record card proved to be an effective call to action, with more than 76% of survey respondents saying they used it to list their medicines. And 86.1% said they intended to speak with their doctor or pharmacist about their medications.
The survey also invited respondents to comment on the brochure. The overwhelming majority (90%) of respondents' comments expressed appreciation or cited the convenience, helpfulness or high quality of the brochure's information. Compliments like the following were quite common, and spoke volumes about the campaign:
TTTC is still evolving based on offers of support from:
Take Time to Care Home Page | Office of Women's Health Home Page | FDA Home Page
FDA/Office of Women's Health
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