Vitamin Helps Saint Agnes Hospital Launch New Web Site to Better Reflect its Brand, Connect with Community

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Mar 23, 2011, 10:00 ET

Baltimore-area hospital demonstrates leadership in healthcare marketing through a new online resource filled with video, social media and action-oriented tools

BALTIMORE, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Vitamin today announced the launch of a new web site for Saint Agnes Hospital to better reflect the institution's brand and mission, as well as its extensive campus expansion plans in Southwest Baltimore. The 250-page web site is one of the most robust and resourceful hospital system websites in the mid-Atlantic area; it gives Saint Agnes the ability to create more meaningful and substantial connections with patients and the community at large. The site includes a wealth of digital resources, including numerous videos, for people researching ailments, treatments, and Saint Agnes' unique approach to each. It was designed in an effort to optimize traffic via search engines as well as social media networks including Facebook and Twitter.

"Vitamin was integral in helping us achieve a user-focused, branded experience for our new web site," says Kirstan Cecil, director of communications and marketing for Saint Agnes Hospital. "We are excited to launch the site and let our constituents experience and better understand the changes that are taking place here at Saint Agnes. The brand message, user-experience, and technology embedded within our new site is indicative of the hospital's technological advancements and the forward-thinking mentality that is driving our expansion and approach to patient care."

The new website launch coincides with the hospital's ongoing campus expansion plan, which is creating an atmosphere that balances comfort and convenience with the latest medical technology. The expansion has already entailed renovations of the Emergency Department, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unity (NICU) and the outpatient entrance, and will continue with these additional areas:

New 120 all-private-room patient tower
Expanded Cancer Institute; increasing capacity by 40%
New medical office building
Renovated and expanded Chest Pain Emergency Room
Operating suites

Michael Karfakis, COO of Vitamin commented, "The site is built on the Expression Engine platform, an open-source system that brings with it a very powerful and scalable content management system right out of the box." He continued, "In developing the new site, this [system] allowed us to focus Saint Agnes' budget on communicating the hospital's brand, site usability, SEO, and social media. These attributes of the project are key differentiators in the hospital outshining the competition, building more meaningful connections with the community, and motivating online users to call, click and take action."

The Expression Engine content management system enables the hospital to easily keep the site up-to-date with news, events, featured stories, and photo galleries, as well as with branded images, site structure elements, and call-to-action features – all of which are highly graphic intensive. Custom forms were integrated, which give hospital staff the ability to add their library of custom produced YouTube videos into pages of the site, giving viewers a more personalized way to connect with the hospital's brand. Additionally, Saint Agnes' marketing department now has the ability to give content control to different areas of the hospital, a function that allows for faster, easier, and more timely updates to the website.

About Vitamin

Vitamin, the "Cure for the Common Brand," is the mid-Atlantic's first boutique design-web-PR firm focused on nourishing brands through a best practices, all-in-house approach to creating cohesive identity, print, interactive and public relations programs. Vitamin's client list includes regional and national companies in diverse fields, including built industry, education, healthcare, restaurant/hospitality, non-profit and search/staffing. Vitamin is certified MBE/DBE by the Maryland Department of Transportation.

About Saint Agnes Hospital

Saint Agnes Hospital is a 314-bed hospital currently undergoing a 200+ million dollar expansion emphasizing patient safety in a high quality healthcare environment. Founded by the Daughters of Charity in 1862, Saint Agnes is the first Catholic hospital in Baltimore and is a full service teaching hospital with residency programs in a number of medical and surgical specialties. Key Institutes include: Cancer, Cardiovascular, Orthopaedic & Spine, Maryland Metabolic, Women's & Children's Health and Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. Saint Agnes pioneered the first Chest Pain ED in the world and continues to expand and grow its Emergency Services. For more information on Saint Agnes Hospital, visit www.stagnes.org.

SOURCE Vitamin, Inc.