HEALTHCARE

Accent on 'Health' in UMass Memorial rebranding

Cyrus Moulton
Telegram & Gazette Staff
The new UMass Memorial Health brand.

WORCESTER - UMass Memorial Health Care is rebranding itself as UMass Memorial Health and adopting the tagline “the relentless pursuit of healing,” which CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said reflects the organization’s focus on caring not just for the health of the individual but the health of the community. 

“We feel it better tells the story of who we are and better tells the promise of what we are going to deliver to people in the coming years,” Dickson said in an interview Tuesday. “As we evolve, the brand had to evolve with us.” 

Dickson said the rebranding will launch next week and be slow – he said he has no plans to reprint his business cards with the new branding, for instance, until his current batch runs out.   

Signage at UMass Memorial Medical Center - Memorial Campus' entrance on Belmont Street

But Dickson said the rebranding, which he said would cost more than $1 million and less than $10 million, has been reinforced by the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Before COVID, we were looking at our brand and we asked, ‘When people think of UMass Memorial Health Care, what do you think about?’ and a lot of people saw us as a trauma center focused on the care of sickest in region, and we are that ... we have to be that company - there is nobody else to fill that space in Central Mass.," Dickson said. “But we have to also become a company that is focused more on health and managing the health of the population.” 

Thus, the health care company envisions investing in low-income housing, continuing a push to buy local and support local businesses, increasing its hiring out of neighborhoods where there is a high percentage of poverty, and more, Dickson said.  

In other words, the company is focusing not just on treating health problems but also on preventing health problems from happening. 

Signage on Route 9 for UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus.

“We can't wait for trauma to come, have to work on social determinants of health,” Dickson said. “We have to focus intently on impacting things that keep people out of the hospital.” 

And the company plans to do that – as well as provide care – relentlessly. 

“We will be relentless in terms of doing everything we can for you, but also relentless in doing everything you want and your family wants in your time of need and illness,” Dickson said, choking up as he recalled nurses not only medically treating terminal COVID-19 patients but also wheeling those patients to window rooms so they could see their loved ones for a final time. 

“(Relentless) means a lot of different things to us,” Dickson continued. “And that’s our brand promise.”