1. Skip to navigation
  2. Skip to content
  3. Skip to sidebar
CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 INFORMATION HERE

Educational Theatre Wins Digital Health Award

Posted on

Kaiser Permanente Southern California Educational Theatre won a Merit certificate in the Digital Health Award Fall 2018 competition in the category of Digital Health-Social Media for their “What Goes Around” (WGA) Instagram account.

WGA is an educational, 60-minute live performance about sexually transmitted disease prevention for high school students. In 2016, Educational Theatre launched the WGA Instagram account, the first social media component to accompany an Educational Theatre program in Southern California. 

Each day, WGA Instagram account followers can see candid behind-the-scenes photos of the actor-health educators at schools all over Southern California, inspirational quotes, and sexual health resources. Additionally, the actor-health educators conduct “live feeds” for students, where they answer sexual health questions their followers ask in real time. Students are also able to ask sexual health questions privately, through the direct message (DM) feature of Instagram. To date, the WGA Instagram account has gained 5,628 followers, made 574 posts, and replied to 1,050 DMs.

“The ‘What Goes Around’ Instagram account is another great way for Kaiser Permanente to reach students where they are,” said Gerry Farrell, director, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Educational Theatre. “This helps keep us engaged with the students and gives us the ability to provide resources even after we have left the campus.” 

In addition to the live performance and the Instagram account, Educational Theatre continues the prevention message through webisodes that extend the story of the characters where the play left off. In the spring, the WGA webisodes won three Digital Health Awards for WGA Webisodes: Gold for “The Test,” Silver for “Gonna Repeat,” and a Merit Award for “A Conflict of Interest.” Shortly before those awards, Educational Theatre received two prestigious Silver Telly Awards for its webisodes. 

The Digital Health Awards competition is held twice each year, spring and fall. The program is organized by the Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), a national clearinghouse for professionals who work in consumer health fields. 

To learn more about Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s work in the community, please visit http://community.kp.org