Drew Mitchell, a junior at Western Kentucky University, has been named the Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations Student of the Year.

Mitchell, a Bowling Green native, was selected from a pool of applicants submitted by department heads at colleges and universities throughout Kentucky. Mitchell and six other semifinalists were asked to submit additional written background and to produce a 1-minute video to explain the strengths they bring to the public relations profession. Four finalists were selected for interviews by Guthrie/Mayes staff along with a series of writing exercises.

As the winning student, he will receive a paid ($3,000) eight-week summer internship at Guthrie/Mayes, where he will gain experience with media outreach, participation in client meetings and planning sessions, on-site support for client events and other PR work. Past Guthrie/Mayes interns have gone on to successful careers in PR-related fields and some have returned to Guthrie/Mayes for permanent employment.

Dan Hartlage, a Guthrie/Mayes principal, said he was very impressed with the quality of PR Student of the Year nominations.  “We received some outstanding nominations,” he said.  “That made the selection process very difficult.  Each candidate we met with has the potential to succeed in this business.”

Hartlage added: “During the selection process, Drew demonstrated some very good writing skills and he appears to be a very strategic thinker.  That is what this industry needs, and we are looking forward to him joining us for the summer.”

“I want to recognize the hard work and the effort that young people put in on student publications,” said Guthrie.

Guthrie/Mayes has hired Scottie Ellis as an assistant account manager. She brings experience from all ends of the communications spectrum, including traditional media relations, consumer marketing, social media, event planning and more.

Scottie previously worked for the Kentucky Travel Industry Association (KTIA) where she handled media relations, oversaw all communication mechanics including website and social media and was actively involved in event planning and implementation.

Scottie earned a Bachelor of Arts in public relations with a minor in sales from Western Kentucky University (WKU). During this time, she also served as an intern for Peppercom in New York; Dye, Van Mol and Lawrence in Nashville;  and Imagewest in Bowling Green, Ky. While at WKU she was actively involved in the Public Relations Student Society of America and was a Diplomat for the School of Journalism and Broadcasting.

Scottie is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America.

What it means to be a professional caregiver

Guthrie/Mayes Senior Counselor Bonnie Hackbarth received the “Giving Award” from the Alzheimer’s Association’s Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter on Saturday evening for her volunteer work on behalf of the Association. Hackbarth  has been a member of the Louisville Walk to End Alzheimer’s committee for three years and is Chair of the Walk this year. She also is chair of Backyard Baseball & Bar B Q, a fundraiser for the walk, for the second year. Last year, the latter event raised more than $17,000 for the Association’s programs and research efforts. Bonnie volunteers in honor of her mother-in-law who has suffered with Alzheimer’s for more than 11 years.

UNITEDHEALTHCARE RAISES AWARENESS OF CHILDREN’S DENTAL HEALTH IN KENTUCKY WITH INAUGURAL “BRUSH OFF!” RALLY

• More than 300 Booker T. Washington students brush their teeth together and learn the importance of good oral hygiene
• February is National Children’s Dental Health Month

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 23, 2012) – More than 300 Booker T. Washington Academy students were joined today by volunteers from UnitedHealthcare and the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry for the inaugural “Brush Off!” rally to help improve children’s dental health and raise awareness of Kentucky’s growing pediatric dental health disparity.

The one-hour rally featured students brushing their teeth together for two minutes (the amount of time recommended by the American Dental Association). UnitedHealthcare provided toothbrushes, tooth paste, educational materials and other items important for good oral health.

Children’s dental health is a major challenge in Kentucky. According to the latest available state evaluation of Kentucky’s dental health, half of the state’s children had decay in their primary teeth, and nearly half of children ages 2 to 4 had untreated dental problems, more than twice the national average.

In 2009, Gov. Steve Beshear launched a three-year, $2.2-million initiative called Healthy Smiles Kentucky to improve dental health for children in the eastern part of the state. The program initially focused on creating a training curriculum to teach Kentucky dentists effective techniques in treating young children, and now includes community oral health coalitions that help children access dental care, and funding to provide preventive oral health services to 25,000 elementary school children in Appalachia.

“Today’s Brush Off! event is a fun, educational way to teach Kentucky’s children important lessons that help them stay healthy for a lifetime,” said Paul Brophy, executive director of UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual of Kentucky. “UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to help reinforce the governor’s efforts to improve our children’s dental health.”

“Healthy kids are happy students, and we’re absolutely thrilled to host the first-ever UnitedHealthcare Brush Off! at Booker T. Washington Academy,” said Wendy Brown, principal at Booker T. Washington Academy. “Our students, faculty and staff are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this fun and educational event.”

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (January 16, 2012) – Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations is seeking nominations for its inaugural GMPR Public Relations Student of the Year Award program. Undergraduate students majoring in subjects related to communications and public relations are eligible.  The program is open to students of all Kentucky and metropolitan Louisville-area colleges and universities.  Student of the Year nominations must be submitted to GMPR via a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.

The selected Student of the Year will receive a paid ($3,000) eight-week summer 2012 internship at GMPR, along with a resume makeover and numerous opportunities to network with others in the public relations field.

“For college students, one of the most important pieces to the employment puzzle is gaining hands-on relevant experience while still in school,” said Dan Hartlage, a principal with Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations.  “We hope that our Student of the Year search process will help students further focus on the need to pursue such experiences, whether it’s at GMPR or elsewhere.”

Hartlage added that the GMPR Student of the Year intern will do “real work … which includes participation in client meetings and planning sessions, on-site support for client events and other real-world public relations work.”

Upon receiving nominations, GMPR staff will select up to 12 students for further consideration.  Those students will be asked to submit – in writing and on video – their thoughts and perspectives on a topic related to public relations.

About five finalists will be chosen.  GMPR will interview each finalist to further discuss their backgrounds and aspirations, as well as their abilities to contribute to the public relations profession.  Finalists also will participate in a series of writing exercises.  Following interviews and an assessment of the writing exercises, GMPR will select its PR Student of the Year.

Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations, based in Louisville and with an office in Lexington, Ky., is one of the region’s largest independent public relations firms.  It was founded in 1977.    See www.guthriemayes.com, and follow the firm on Facebook (Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations) and Twitter (@GuthrieMayesPR).

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Personalized Awareness Campaign

Targets High Cervical Cancer Rates in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, KY, January 3, 2011– More than 90 percent of cervical cancer cases can be prevented through regular screenings and the only anti-cancer vaccine available today, yet about a fifth of Kentucky women 18 and older haven’t had a Pap test in the last three years and fewer than one in nine eligible Kentucky females have received the full three-shot vaccine series. A new awareness campaign launched today by Cervical Cancer Free Kentucky uses a Facebook application to demonstrate in a very personal way how the devastating disease might affect users’ circle of friends.

“What if we had a vaccine to prevent breast cancer?” asks University of Kentucky Professor Baretta R. Casey, MD, MPH, who is also a family physician and director of Cervical Cancer Free Kentucky (CCFKY) initiative. “Surely, you’d see women going in droves to their doctors’ offices to get the vaccine and sharing the news with everyone they know.

The HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer, is the only anti-cancer vaccine available today. Kentucky has one of the highest mortality rates in the country from cervical cancer, but we have the tools to change that. We just need to use them.”

Through the new “Cause the Movement” campaign, Cervical Cancer-Free Kentucky hopes to reduce Kentucky’s cervical cancer rate, which iseighthhighest in the country, through three steps:

• Educating Kentuckians about cervical cancer, prevention and treatment;
• Increasing the number of women who get cervical cancer prevention screenings, and who get follow up testing and/or treatment when the screenings yield abnormal results; and
• Encouraging both males and females ages 9 to 26 to get the HPV vaccine series.

The campaign will include speaking engagements, news announcements, posters and creation of a new website.  When users visit www.causethemovement.org, they are taken to an application that connects with their Facebook account and pulls from their friends’ profile photos to demonstrate the potential impact of cervical cancer on their social circle. Hundreds of women in Kentucky develop cervical cancer every year, and many of those women die. The application randomly selects from users’ friends to illustrate these facts, dramatically darkening the profile photos of those representing the percentage wholikely would die from cervical cancer. The application then offers viewers the chance to share the Cause the Movement campaign link with their Facebook friends.

“Almost all women who die from cervical cancer failed to get Pap tests or they got them too infrequently,” said Elisia Cohen, Ph.D., director of strategic communications with CCFKY. “We want to emphasize that information about preventing cervical cancer is worth sharing with friends. The application encourages women to do just that – to cause a movement toward higher levels of understanding, screening and vaccination.”

Selected Cervical Cancer Statistics:

• Statewide, approximately one in five women have not been screened in the past three years. The percentage is even higher in the Barren River Area Development District (Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Simpson and Warren Counties), where 31 percent of women over the age of 18 have not been screened in the past three years.
• The HPV vaccine is recommended for  females ages9– 26. Although about one in four Kentucky adolescent women have initiated vaccination, less than one in nine adolescent women in  Kentucky have received the full HPV vaccine series (all three doses). Even fewer young adult women over the age of 18 have received the full series of the HPV vaccine. The vaccine is also approved for use in males, and the CDC recently recommended guidelines for its use in males ages 11-26. (For specific guidelines, see http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6050a3.htm?s_cid=mm6050a3_e)
• Nationwide, an estimated 12,710 have contracted cervical cancer in 2011; and 4,290 women have died of the disease. (National Cancer Institute)

About Cervical Cancer:

Cervical cancer is usually slow growing, and does not cause symptoms in the early stages. In more advanced stages, women may experience abnormal vaginal bleeding, increased vaginal discharge and pelvic pain or pain during sex. Infection with HPV (human papillomavirus) is the cause of nearly all cervical cancers. HPV infections are very common, and are passed from person to person through sexual or skin-to-skin contact. According to the National Cancer Institute, most adults have been infected with HPV at some time in their lives, but most infections clear up on their own. Factors that increase the chances than an HPV infection will develop into cervical cancer include lack of regular Pap tests, smoking, extended use of birth control pills, numerous sexual partners, a weakened immune system and giving birth to five or more children.

About Cervical Free Cancer Kentucky:

The Cervical Cancer-Free Kentucky Initiative is working to prevent cervical cancer in Kentucky through prevention of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection, timely screening and diagnosis, access to follow-up care and treatment, and changes in cervical cancer-related health policy. The Rural Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health developed the initiative in order to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in the Commonwealth. For more information, visit www.cervicalcancerfreeky.org.

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Guthrie/Mayes principal Dan Hartlage is quoted in the most recent edition of  Beauty Link, a beauty and cosmetology publication, about crisis communications planning. Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations frequently counsels new and existing clients on how to best manage crises from a communications standpoint. http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/BSAQ0411/index.php?startpage=24&qs=hartlage

Guthrie/Mayes account manager Ashley Schaffner is interviewed by WHAS-TV regarding last-minute, Louisville-themed holiday gifts. In addition to conducting behind-the-scenes media relations, our employees occasionally serve as on-air spokespeople for their clients. See video here:

http://www.whas11.com/community/Interview-Last-minute-gift-ideas-135928168.html