EyeHealth1st, a national early intervention and preventative eye care campaign, launched in March by 1stGroup, has moved into its second phase. The campaign aims to connect with five million Australians each month to educate them about the importance of regular eye tests and drive them to book an eye test with a participating optometrist.
The campaign takes advantage of online and offline channels including TVs and digital screens in healthcare waiting rooms, and MyDr.com.au, which is visited by one million consumers every single month.
Supported since its launch by Glaucoma Australia, EyeHealth1st recently announced a second major partnership, this time with Macular Disease Foundation Australia.
“The first phase of the campaign was about validating our technology, finessing our messaging, testing online ads and channels of communication,” said Klaus Bartoch, Managing Director and co-founder of 1st Group which owns EyeHealth1st.
“The problem we are trying to solve is to get people who are over 50, and who aren’t seeing an optometrist, to make a booking to see one. Those who are already seeing an optometrist are in the low risk category, but there is a great proportion of the over 50s who don’t wear glasses, and they are not currently having their eye health checked.
“Now we are ready to launch a powerful new campaign that will include events, and high profile publicity stunts to capture their attention. It’s going to be fun – so watch this space!”
Expanding Its Reach
In addition to developing online booking platforms for optometrists, 1stGroup has developed digital platforms for physiotherapists, GPs, veterinary services and most recently, psychologists. A total of 9,500 practices have signed up to the various platforms and over nine million appointments have been booked by members of the public.
“Our broader aim is to encourage all Australians to proactively manage their health care by educating them and making it easy for them to connect directly with the appropriate medical providers,” said Mr Bartoch.
To launch the platform for psychologists, 1st Group has partnered with Benestar, a leading Employee Assistance Provider in Australia and New Zealand, which delivers mental health and wellbeing services to a broad range of organisations and their employees. Benestar allocates thousands of patients a month to external psychologists across Australia, and in the future the aim is for these patients to be allocated psychologists using the MyHealth1st platform. The platform will enable Benestar to find availability and confirm appointments much more efficiently, improving the experience and process for these employees who require fast and easy access to mental health support.
“Strategic partnerships like this one with Benestar afford us unique opportunities to offer improved support in the mental health sector,” said Mr Bartoch. “There are around 57,000 psychologists in Australia (almost twice the number of GPs) and we are aiming to become number one in the psychology category. Enabling early intervention is key to our focus as a company. With 20% of Australians suffering a mental illness each year, it is high time that we did something to help make the process much easier for patients.”
