Patient First in the Community

While we're on the cusp of the return of the Boys of Summer at Prince George's Stadium, the weekend's weather wasn't exactly summer-like for the return of the Bowie Baysox Family Fun Fest.

The event, which is a family-friendly day at the ballpark, and a warm up to the Baysox 2024 season is one in which we've participated for a number of years, as part of our long partnership with the Orioles' minor league affiliate.

Our table was positioned at the center of the concourse, directly in front of the First Aid station, which we staff for every Baysox home game. We saw a lot of welcoming familiar faces from the Baysox staff, as well as the fans and season ticket holders who come out to support this event.

Unfortunately, the weather was not as supportive, with a cold, steady rain and chilling winds lasting through most of the day. A few hundred die hard fans did turn out, however-- all of whom were familiar with our centers, and complimentary of our services. Most of those who stopped by had been patients of our Bowie, Glen Burnie, and Pasadena centers.

It's always great to be a part of this event, in anticipation of warm weather and the return of baseball. Here's hoping for better weather next year to bring in even more crowds!

Crowds were lined six deep, with numbers in the thousands celebrating all things Irish, as the town of York welcomed the return of the York St. Patrick's Day Parade!

This year, the weather wasn't quite as frigid, but March's occasional blustery winds were still a reminder that Spring hasn't quite arrived yet. Fortunately, the folks at Union Lutheran Church near our staging area provided us with shelter and snacks as we waited for step-off time.

The crowds were enthusiastically cheering our staff as we made our way down the mile-long, six block parade route. Our staff lined the streets, handing out hand sanitizer and yo-yo's in little pots of gold to the crowd, adding to the festive atmosphere.

This is the second year post-pandemic that we've participated in the parade, and we look forward to to leading the way again next year!

This past March 1st-3rd, Patient First partnered with the Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) for our first Pet Adoption partnership weekend. Based on the success of a similar campaign we sponsored in Richmond last year, we wanted to see how the program would be received in the Baltimore area. And what a success it was! 

Over the course of the three days, Patient First covered the adoption fees for every animal adopted in the facility. On every kennel that housed an adoptable pet, a sign crediting Patient First as the benefactor for the adoption was posted. We also set up a table at the entrance to the adoption center, where our staff was able to interact with every family that came in, as well as hand out our materials and promotional items.

Most of the people who spoke with us had been patients at our Glen Burnie center, which is less than nine miles away, or our Perry Hall and Bayview centers, which are 17 and eight miles away, respectively. One family came from as far as the Towson area, where our center is 21 miles away. Every one of the families we spoke with were extremely pleased with the care we provided them at our centers, and very grateful for what we were doing with BARCS, and for them.

Now that the weekend is complete, BARCS officials report that all 26 of the cats that they had been caring for had been claimed, and that over 70 of the 141 dogs they had been sheltering had been adopted! The weekend was indeed a testament to the fact that pet ownership provides health benefits to both the animal, but their owner, as well!

On Saturday, February 10th, Patient First returned to the Baltimore Convention Center for the 2024 B'More Healthy Expo. Created by Baltimore television station Fox45, this event showcases a wide variety of medical services and providers from the area, in all fields of medicine. For many of the city's underserved citizens, this event can be their only interaction with a physician, a dentist, or a clinic for the entire year, and Patient First is proud to be among those involved. In addition to the medical services and information being dispensed, there were also three stages featuring healthy cooking tips, exercise regimens, and cardio-invigorating dance routines. There was also a 14 foot rock wall to challenge the indoor thrill seeker. 

This year saw crowds return to their pre-pandemic levels, with an estimated 28 thousand people streaming through the doors of the convention center's great hall. Our table once again was positioned squarely in the middle of the event, directly across from the area featuring the Fox45 news anchors and reporters, ensuring maximum visibility for us.

The thousands of people who came by our table had such wonderful things to say about our service and our staff, and thanked us repeatedly not only for what we do every day for the community, but for being there at the Expo in the first place!

We look forward to a long partnership with this very worthwhile event.

On Saturday, February 3rd, the town of Havre De Grace hosted their annual Havre De Grace Ice Festival. 50 beautifully crafted and polished sculptures hewn from blocks of ice adorned the streets of town, creating a festive atmosphere amidst the doldrums of winter.

In addition to the outdoor sights, the festival also hosts a vendor fair and children's play area inside the STAR Centre, formerly Havre De Grace High School. The facility features a gymnasium that hosted the vendor fair with character appearances, as well as two large bounce houses for kids to frolic about. The Centre's auditorium played host for the "Elsa and Friends" character show, as well as a "Jurassic Kingdom" presentation for children and adults alike. To top off the afternoon and evening's events, the festival featured a bit of wintry fire, by holding a chili cookoff, with more than a dozen entries from local restaurants and food service providers.

This was Patient First's initial year of participation with this event, and it could not have gone off more smoothly for us! With our Aberdeen center just six miles from the STAR Centre, our Aberdeen staff served as amazing representatives, as hundreds of people streamed by to thank us for the services we provide, and to help themselves to the promotional items on hand.

 This festival was a welcome addition to our event schedule, and we are already looking ahead to sponsoring future activities at the STAR Centre, including their summer camp program, and their gymnasium, which hosts sports programs year-round. To paraphrase Casablanca, it looks like the beginning of a beautiful partnership!

On October 20th & 21st, our Patient First staff returned to the creepy campgrounds of Codorus State Park for their annual Trail of Treats event. Usually a beautiful, dense forest, this time of year campers pull out all the stops to get into the spirit of Halloween, with all manner of decorations, statues and animatronic figures, and light projection effects, scaring up a frightfully good time for 3,000 costumed trick or treaters and their families.

Much like last year's appearance, our tent was very popular, with kids fascinated and delighted to receive our safety blinkers, which lit up the night and our buckets as we handed them out. Parents were happy to receive hand sanitizer to clean up their little ones after a night of binging on candy and wandering through the woods.

Our Patient First staff got into the spirit of the night, dressing up in costume as Snow White, Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, a spider, a nurse, and of course what fall event isn't complete without Pumpkin Spice? Directly across from our tent was a family of Barbies and Kens, both in and out of their boxes, who provided quite a bit of entertainment for us and all the passersby.

This is always one of the most memorable events of our year, and it was great to see new faces come out to join our staff. We're already looking forward to next year's Trail!

If you grew up liking police and emergency rescue shows like Adam-12, Emergency! SWAT, Chicago Fire, or 911, then the parking lot adjacent to Martin State Airport in the Perry Hall area was the place to be for this year's Baltimore County Public Safety Day. Police, fire, EMS and other public safety agencies trotted out their latest equipment for display, as well as providing an opportunity to meet the men and women who protect and serve our community, under less dire circumstances.

This was Patient First's first year participating in this event, which was located just eight miles from our Perry Hall center. Our tent and table were dead center in the in the heart of the crowds. While there were a few folk who had not visited our centers, most of those who came by knew exactly who we were, and had wonderful stories to share about the service and care we had provided them.

In addition to the presence of a hook and ladder truck that rose up 80 feet into the air, there was also a rescue boat, an ambulance, a police armored vehicle, and a police helicopter that landed on-site. Kids could later have their picture taken in the cockpit! Police also put on a K-9 demonstration, showing off the four-legged police officer's ability to sniff out contraband and subdue suspects. All that, couple with food trucks and an appearance by the BCPD color guard made for a fun afternoon for all ages. 

Fortunately the grey skies held the rain at bay, allowing everyone who came to have a great time. We look forward to participating next year!

On Saturday, September 16th and Sunday, September 17th, at the Springettsbury Township Park, just a little over two miles from our York center, a land of enchantment filled with fairies, gnomes, ogres, mermaids, pirates and believers of all ages sprung out of nowhere, as the York Enchanted Fairy Festival returned once again.

This is our second year participating with this fun and family-friendly event, and once again we embraced the spirit of the weekend, with several staffers dressing up in costume and hosting a second side table, where children could come and craft popsicle stick fairies, and decorate them with various materials.

Once again, our craft table kept the kids busy, freeing up the parents to talk with us about their experiences with us (100% positive), and for us to discuss the services we offer to the few who weren't familiar with us. Patients of ours from York, Mechanicsburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, White Marsh, Bel Air, Catonsville, and even Glen Burnie and Annapolis made the trip to this event, and all were glad to see us, and went away with some promotional swag.

This year, the festival expanded into a second day. While Saturday's weather was absolutely magical, Sunday brought clouds and intermittent showers. Not a downpour, but enough to keep the wet wings from flying for most.

This is one of our most unique festivals of the year, and it's also one of the favorites among our staffers. They all can't wait to return to it, and next year, neither can we!

One of the most visually dazzling events of this region's event season returned over the weekend in the form of the Lancaster Hot Air Balloon Festival. Held on an expansive field in Bird-In Hand, PA, this 4-day event typically draws crowds by the busloads from as far north as Wisconsin, to as far south as Alabama.

As a long-time sponsor of this event, our Patient First tent was placed in a prime position-- right at the edge of the vendor fair, as crowds exited and entered the field to witness the nightly balloon glow event, and scheduled balloon ascensions. We also sponsored the festival's corn maze, as well as one of the balloons launched daily. Sadly, the evening winds were just a tad too strong to allow for an evening ascension, but the morning ascensions did go off as planned.

In addition to a wide variety of food, games, live entertainment that included bands, magicians, and character shows, this year's festival offered a new feature-- helicopter rides! It proved to serve as an unintended consolation prize, in light of the lack of evening balloon rides.

Despite this festival's broad appeal to people from states who had never heard of Patient First, almost every one of the people who came to visit us from the states that we do serve said they had used our services on multiple occasions. Many also took advantage of the free blood pressure checks we offered on site.

This event has long been one of our most anticipated parts of our event season, and we look to continue our partnership with it in the years to come! 

For our second year, Patient First returned to the Timonium Fairgrounds to help take part in the long-standing rite of summer send off, the Maryland State Fair. And just like last year, the excitement and enthusiasm was as high as the temperatures!

As a sponsor of this 142 year institution celebrating all things Maryland, our Patient First tent was placed smack dab in front of patrons as they came through the front gate. There, we greeted everyone as they came by to say glowing things about our service, our staff, and the cleanliness of our centers. In addition to the prime booth location, our logo was showcased all around the fairgrounds, not just as a fair sponsor, but on every hand washing station, demonstrating proper hand washing techniques. We were also featured on a large backlit sign facing the primary exit of the 4H Exhibition Hall, one of the complex's most traveled (and well air conditioned) buildings. The folks at the state fair are happy to have us as a sponsor, and they made sure all of our staff were well taken care of!

From a wide variety of food, live music, rides, and games on the midway, to the livestock, equestrian, and home craft exhibitions on the perimeter, the MD State Fair has something for everyone! So many of those people came by our tent to collect our promotional items and extol the virtues of our mission to provide the highest level of urgent and primary care to our patients. Many people credited our staff with literally saving their lives. Not a bad way to spend two days outside!

We certainly look forward to returning to this cornerstone event in our calendar next year!