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Sickle Cell of the Peninsula Strategic Plan Kendall Alexander-Recommendations Mignon Bowie-objective Sam Clark- Methodology Olivia Leathers-Intro

Brian Sprowl-Results Nya Peets-Summary Shannon Smith November 12, 2013 JAC 495

Introduction For the fall 2013 semester, the Senior Capstone Class has been assigned to build awareness for the Sickle Cell Association of the Peninsula (SCAP). SCAP is an organization that provides education about the sickle cell disease, financial, emotional support and resources to help patients and families who are dealing with sickle cell disease. Since 1972, The organization has been helping families who are affected by sickle cell anemia. The class plans on raising awareness for the organization by creating a social media campaign, organizing engaging events and producing a PSA. By implementing these tactics, it will engage and communicate with a broader audience to bring their attention to SCAP. Objective Our objective is to raise awareness amongst individuals between the ages of 20 to 45 about the effects of the sickle cell disease. The campaign will run from December 2013 until June 2014, to commence with the organizations annual Afrikan American Festival. Summary The Sickle Association of the Peninsula (SCAP) is a nonprofit organization providing information about the sickle cell disease to the Hampton Roads community. The association offers financial support, locates a variety of helpful resources for sickle cell patients and families, as well as assisting clients on how to effectively cope with sickle cell episodes. Along with daily services provided, SCAP prides itself on their annual Afrikan American Festival held in downtown

Hampton. Every year SCAP uses this festival to raise money and awareness about the disease. Since SCAP was founded in 1972 they have won several awards including: Most Money Donated and Most Registered. The sole purpose of SCAP is to inform and encourage those suffering from the sickle cell disease to share their touching and overwhelming experiences with others, in order to help sufferers from the disease overcome what some might call a setback. Methodology The aim of this project is to increase awareness for the Sickle Cell Association of the Peninsula (SCAP). In order to do this, we must first find out how knowledgeable people in the Hampton area are about SCAP. We will gage peoples level of knowledge of SCAP through a convenient sampling method. Convenient sampling allows us to first give the survey to people we know, and then they can reference other people to take the survey, which will create a sort of wildfire affect. The survey will have 10 questions about sickle-cell anemia, the association and social media. The questions will be open-ended and close-ended, and we will be seeking to get qualitative information on how much people know about the disease and the SCAP. At the same time, though, we can get quantitative information as well because we can figure out how many people are actually knowledgeable about the disease and the organization. The demographic that this survey will be aimed at is young to middle-aged adults, specifically within the 20-45 year-old age range. We are targeting this age

range because this is the demographic that is the most highly affected by the disease, based on research. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest number group of patients who visited the emergency room between the years of 1999 and 2007 for sickle cell related problems were 20-29 year-olds and 30-45 year-olds (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). The survey will be disseminated through the social media sites of Facebook and Twitter. We will also use emails to distribute the survey. Social media sites can be good to reach younger audiences because of their affinity for social media. A recent study conducted by GlobalWebIndex showed that 62 percent of Facebooks total account holders have accessed their account within the last month (Bullas, 2013). These studies show that people check their Facebook page relatively often. Another study reports that Twitter is trending towards a younger audience, and is slowly becoming the more popular social network for younger people (Bennett, 2013). Through this survey, we hope to get an idea of how much people know about the sickle cell disease and the organization, and we can determine out how to increase the awareness for both. Results The data collected through the survey, suggests that 41 percent of the respondents associate or interact with a health awareness association, such as Alzheimers Association, Diabetes Association, or the Cancer Society of America.

Respondents receive information from these associations via email newsletter or Twitter. However, a large number of respondents are active on multiple social networks, which include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Results from the survey also suggest that 55 percent of the respondents are familiar with the sickle cell disease, while only percent are knowledgable, and the remaining respondents are neutral or unfamiliar. Although the majority are somewhat familiar, some participants did indicate they are willing to learn more about SCAP. Recommendations Based on the results from the survey, the following recommendations can improve the awareness of the organization.The data suggests a majority of respondents from the survey use some form of social media. SCAP currently has a Facebook page, but the organization can benefit from a Twitter and Instagram account as well. By creating these accounts, the organization can provide constant, quick updates as well as daily facts about the sickle cell disease throughout the day via Twitter, and they can share photos of daily activities via Instagram. The organizations Facebook page is relatively text heavy. Sharing photos for an example through Instagram can attract more users and create a new form of communication. All of the links can be made available through the site, and each link can also appear in the biography or about section of each respective social media account.

The use of emails can reach audience members who prefer a more traditional means of communication. Social media accounts but there is no guarantee that they will check their accounts in a timely manner. However, older people typically check their email frequently because of work and personal reasons. Emails are to older people what social media is to younger people. The next recommendation is overhaul of the website. The current website is out of date and lacks information about the organization itself. In raising awareness, the organization can focus on marketing itself and not just the disease. A website, can include more information about SCAP, its mission and goals. There can also be a section on the home page where people can make donations directly to the organization. The fourth recommendation involves hosting more events. The Annual Afrikan American Festival and the annual walk can be enhanced with additional events to keep the organization in the public eye. A monthly activity can focus on increasing awareness and fundraising. More can attract events more volunteers and provide community service opportunities for students and adults. Other activities can be charity, church or educational events to increase awareness and raise money.

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