National children’s dental provider Kool Smiles has received the nation’s top public relations award—the PR News Platinum PR Award—for its “SmileOn” campaign, a multiyear effort that includes ongoing community outreach, patient and employee relations, national and local media outreach around dental health education, and social media community building.
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The award was presented at the 2015 PR News Platinum PR Awards ceremony on October 26, 2015 in New York City.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by the PR News Platinum PR Awards program for our efforts to communicate the Kool Smiles dream of creating a world of happy, healthy smiles by providing a dental home to every child who needs one. For the past several years, our SmileOn program has advanced this dream through internal and external community engagement programs that promote dental health education and give back to the communities we serve,” said D Ray Gifford, DMD, managing dental director for Kool Smiles. “We could not be more proud of our dentists and other team members, whose dedication to our dream has been rightly recognized with this honor.”
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Kool Smiles’ SmileOn initiatives include Operation Troop Treats, the largest Halloween candy buyback program by a dental provider in the United States that has contributed to a total of more than five tons of sweets and 800 care packages shipped to US soldiers overseas. The program is now in its fourth consecutive year, with candy collection for 2015 beginning on October 30 at Kool Smiles offices nationwide.
Kool Smiles was also recognized for Sharing Smiles Day, a national day of free dental care offered in February for children without any form of dental insurance. Since the start of the Smile On campaign in 2012, Kool Smiles dentists have provided more than $59 million in uncompensated care to patients in the communities they serve.
According to PR News, the Platinum PR Awards “recognize the year’s most outstanding communicators, initiatives and organizations in the competitive PR arena. These coveted awards set a benchmark for excellence in communications.”
For a complete list of award winners and honorable mentions, please visit: http://www.platinumprawards.com/.
The Kool Smiles SmileOn campaign award submission is shared by Schmidt Public Affairs, its agency of record that managed the PR efforts for this campaign.
About Kool Smiles
Kool Smiles is dedicated to creating a world of happy, healthy smiles. As a leading dental health provider, Kool Smiles' mission is to improve lives by providing high quality dental care in a fun, compassionate environment. Kool Smiles dentists are proud to offer care to kids and adults with almost any insurance plan, including State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP), Medicaid and Tricare. Kool Smiles also provides oral health education programs through partnerships with community schools and organizations. For more information, please visit www.mykoolsmiles.com.
Source: Kool Smiles press release 28 October 2015
