Foursquare Day is a day where social media is celebrated. April 16 was chosen because it’s the fourth month, and the fourth day squared. The really fun thing about this holiday is that a VSP doctor came up with the idea! Dr. Nate Bonilla-Warford had been active in social media and became intrigued with the idea of Foursquare when it became available in his area. He quickly saw the value in this application and began using it. In fact, his practice, Bright Eyes Family Vision Care is now a venue on Foursquare!

Check out the Foursquare Day web page to see other things happening today in support of this holiday. If you’re celebrating Foursquare Day and also have an eye exam, make sure you check-in at your VSP doctor’s office! And, let us know if you do!

Andy G. is a member of VSP's Sales team.

Why is VSP on Twitter? Can I follow VSP’s tweets? This blog will answer these and other questions, in fewer than 140 characters. Read on.

Why Twitter?

Twitter, just one of many social media channels we use, provides searchable, public, visible access to relevant conversations.

Twitter’s 140-character limit means we have to get to the point. We write with accuracy, brevity, and clarity. We use meaningful words.

Tweets can include shortened URLs. A 50-character link like http://vspblog.com/2009/06/19/new-vsp-group-blog/ becomes http://bit.ly/12151Q

Who are the VSP Twitterers?

SeeLia and SeeZar are tweeting on the road. Who are SeeLia and SeeZar? VSP’s mobile clinics, sent out to provide self-contained vision care.

Hurricanes Katrina and Ike taught VSP that our initial response teams had to bring everything that doctors could use for patient care.

SeeLia and SeeZar are tweeting about visiting sites, helping at natural disasters, and offering our services at schools and community events.

VSPVisionCare tweets news, tips, advice, and information relating to eyecare and VSP vision benefits.

Eyehealthcare tweets about news and studies focusing on chronic disease and eyecare’s connection to overall body health.

Sign up with a username and email. Then follow @vspvisioncare @seelia @seezar @eyehealthcare. (Under their profile photo, click “follow.”)

Follow AndyG on Twitter @geewhizkid.

Jill N. is a member of VSP's Corporate Public Relations team.

One of my first tasks when I came on board was to gather data to put together a 2008 recap for the VSP Mobile Eyes program. Through my research I also found numerous updates and testimonials from the disaster relief we provided. Now that we have embarked on another fire season in California I was curious to find out more about the specifics of how this sort of disaster relief is managed. Here is what I found:

VSP has a team of four employees who make up the Disaster Response Team. This team receives notifications of natural disasters across the United States through a variety of channels. This includes a range of not such hi-tech ways like self-observation, news stories on TV, online and radio or e-emails sent to the team from VSP employees, doctors, clients or members to more specific monitoring of disaster sites such as InciWeb. Once a notification is received, the team starts by researching the area and looking up VSP doctors who may be affected. Even it’s only one or two doctors, outreach support is immediately started.

The team attempts to contact our doctors in a number of ways. Depending on the amount of doctors in the affected area, initial phone calls are made and e-mails are sent out. The e-mails are sent not only to the doctors, but also to regional contacts who we ensure are aware of the disaster and are asked to forward any communication they receive from doctors who may be affected.

Once it is determined there is a doctor who has been affected, either by needing to close their office due to evacuation or if their office or equipment has been damaged, we work with them to provide whatever support they may need. For example, if a doctor has lost their office, we may able to offer our Mobile Clinic to them to use to service their patients or people in the community until their office is back up and running. If the clinic is not an option, we also have ten sets of portable ophthalmic equipment we can loan free of charge to set up in an area they can work for as long as they need it. Or if their office is not damaged but does not have electricity or access to the internet, we will work with them to ensure they are able to submit paper claims the same as they would online.

This year, we are also utilizing our new social media channels. These are used in a variety of ways, including as an extension for communication to our doctors and members, as well as to help monitor additional situations that may arise where our doctors need assistance. We had an example of this in July when a news report was reported on Twitter about an SUV driving through the wall of one our VSP doctor’s office. We were able to contact the doctor, ensure everyone was OK and offer assistance. Fortunately, the doctor was able to schedule repairs to the office fairly quickly enabling them to stay open for business as usual, but they were appreciative knowing they had options available if need be.

VSP's Mobile Response and Disater Response teams.

This year our Disaster Response Team has already responded to 15 disasters, including the larger ones such as the flooding in North Dakota, tornadoes in Mississippi and, most recently, the California wildfires. It is a good feeling knowing that the company I work for not only provides “insurance” that contributes to a positive quality of life, but it also provides “assurance” during times when it is needed the most.