Hello, and welcome! I’m Kathy Selker. Aim for the 80 was born from my passion for helping providers and marketers of complex services like healthcare better connect with women.
According to Becker’s Hospital Review, women make 80 percent of healthcare decisions in America. They also represent nearly 80 percent of the healthcare workforce and 90 percent of nurses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — though only 21 percent of healthcare executives are women.
These statistics are quite telling about who America’s caretakers are. Women take on much of the responsibility for choosing healthcare for their children, spouses and parents. Women do the research on which nursing home will provide the best care for an ailing parent, which pediatrician can best treat a child, and which urologist a spouse or sibling suffering kidney stones should see. Women choose primary care providers and hospitals, surgeons and urgent care centers. The best tool we can arm them with is information.
I lost my mother suddenly and unexpectedly when I was young. It instilled in me a sustaining drive to help women access healthcare and healthcare information at every stage of their lives. As the managing director of Stratos and previously as the as CEO of Northlich, my work has taught me a great deal about how health and wellness brands, to include health systems can best connect with women to make the most positive impact in their lives, and thus the lives of everyone in the community.
I hope this blog is a helpful resource to you as I share what I’ve learned. When hospital marketing is effective, efficient and targeted, hospitals can run more effectively and efficiently — and that saves lives.