Patient First in the Community

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!  

Cooper Lane Elementary School and the community held their Block Party on Friday, August 25th. Patient First is a proud sponsor of this event, and happy to be back!

The event was held outside at the school's blacktop/playground area. It was a very hot and sunny day, but in spite of the heat we had lots of families lined up around noon. There was music playing for the entirety of the event, as well as snacks and free backpacks. Parents and students were also able to meet and greet their teachers. 

Our Landover location is a mile down the road, so everyone that came to our table knew of Patient First! We heard great things about the care we provide, and how smooth-sailing everything is. We got a lot of questions regarding what school immunizations we provide and our self-pay pricing. Overall, we had a great time, everyone was so kind and grateful. 

Patient First wishes an amazing school year to all the teachers and students at Cooper Lane Elementary! We hope to see you again next year.
 

The Great Allentown Fair celebrated its 171st anniversary at the Allentown Fairgrounds this year, and Patient First was part of the fun as a sponsor. The Fairgrounds location is very close to our Allentown center, and it has a big draw from throughout the Lehigh Valley and beyond each year. We were delighted to hear so many positive comments about patient experiences in our Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and Wyomissing centers, as well as from folks who visited from even farther away including Central Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Maryland.

This event never disappoints. The Fair has been a Labor Day weekend tradition, and it always has a little something for everyone to enjoy, from livestock to amusement rides, concerts, games, contests, food and so much more. We love returning to this event each year as a sponsor, and we are especially happy that Mother Nature gave us perfect weather for our participation in this year's event as she did in 2021.

We enjoyed a great churn of foot traffic all day from the early birds who came by during the morning hours and then those who stop by during their lunchtime, followed by an after-school crowd of parent with school age children, to the later crowd which was a mixture of all ages who came for food, fun, amusements and of course the evening headline show. We can't wait to return in 2024!

This event has always been a fun one for Patient First to be part of, and it was great to be back again this year as a sponsor! Mother Nature was kind to us on event day too, delivering a beautiful summer day -- hot and sunny, and no rain until after the event concluded. The crowd this year was enormous, and the number of vendors on site doubled to more than 100 this year!

A big shout out to the Spring-Ford Chamber of Commerce and the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce. This event was a joint production of theirs, and it was well done and very organized.

The Spring-Ford Area High School marching band performed to kick things off for the day. There were several food trucks on site as well to keep people fed and hydrated. Many area first responders came out for the event to show off their equipment. It was also fun to have a disc jockey playing music all day for everyone to enjoy.

We handled a steady stream of requests for blood pressure checks all day. We were happy to hear from so many people who have been patients - some with frequency - at both our Pottstown and Collegeville locations. It is always so rewarding for us to hear from patients and community members who have praises to share about the quality of their care and their experiences in our centers. They are always happy that with Patient First they can walk in to any of our locations without an appointment any day of the week, including weekends and holidays.

We're counting the weeks until the 2024 Community Day!

Patient First headed to the Diamond to join the Richmond Flying Squirrels for Back to Teaching Night.  This celebration recognized the hard work and dedication of our educators and support staff as we say goodbye to summer break and welcome students back to school.  Local teachers, administrators and staff were admitted free with a valid school ID courtesy of Patient First.  We had a great time interacting with the fans as they stopped by our marketing table to pick up some Patient First swag. Nutzy and Nutasha made a cameo appearance at our table as well.  The Flying Squirrels were kind enough to let us throw the opening pitch and invited us to do a radio interview with their Media Exec.  Our very own, Dr. Cora Owen sat down with Blaine McCormick to talk about some important back to school tips.

The night was eventful and our team had a blast.  Patient First would like to wish teachers, staff and students a safe and healthy school year!

The 2023 Maryland Seafood Festival came a little earlier this year than in years past, and at a different location. What remained the same though, was the fun, the food, and the festive atmosphere that have kept crowds coming for 57 years!

This year, the festival moved from its traditional location, and came to City Dock in Annapolis, just a stone's throw from the Naval Academy and the State House. Crowds were literally lining up at the gate, which was directly in front of the Patient First tent bringing each and every one of the thousands of ticket holders past our booth. We had scores of great conversations with people from all over the Delmarva region, who thanked us for the service we provided them, and loved how clean and organized the centers were. We also had quite a few people from western Maryland, the eastern shore, North Carolina and New York, who while unfamiliar with what we do, were very interested in having us expand into their hometowns.

In addition to over a dozen seafood trucks, vendors, and craft beer tents, there were also a number of fantastic live bands performing, a crab soup competition, an oyster shucking contest, and an inflatable playground for the kids. Add to all that the fact that the weather was picture perfect, and you have the makings of a great summer festival weekend-- one we can't wait to come back to next year, as well!

Thousands of people were looking to the skies in the fields of Delta, Pennsylvania this weekend. It wasn't because of some crop circle phenomena, but because of the Chesapeake Bay Hot Air Balloon Festival.

Typically held on Maryland's eastern shore, this year the event was scheduled to be held in Bel Air, Maryland. Just 11 days before the event however, that location was no longer deemed viable by the Harford County Government. So, like any baloon pilot knows, an alternate landing site had to be found, and found fast. Fortunately, the Mason-Dixon Fairgrounds just a dozen miles to the north provided a safe haven for this year's event.

Despite the sudden change of venue, tens of thousands turned out for this weekend long event. The vendor fair played host to our table and tent, where people from both PA and MD came by to collect our giveaway items, and tells us how much the appreciated the work our staff does, and the professionalism with which they do it.

In addition to the awe-inspiring sights of the balloon ascension and tethered rides, there was also live music featured throughout the afternoon, an inflatable playground for the kids, truck racing on a huge dirt track, and a whole host of vendors and food trucks to satisfy patrons of every taste.

Balloon festivals are always very vulnerable to changing weather conditions, and this one was particularly so. The threat of a severe storm, coupled with high winds forced the cancellation of Friday evening's balloon glow. All of Saturday's balloon related events, fortunately, went off without a hitch.

It will be interesting to see if next year's festival will return to it's eastern shore roots, or if it will find another location in 2024. Watch this space....

Musikfest returned for its 40th year in the Lehigh Valley and Patient First was part of the action on "Preview Night" again this year. The Bethlehem, PA event is the country's largest free music festival, and it draws more than 1 million people annually. A record-breaking 1,240,000 people attended Musikfest in 2022, and 2023 attendance will likely be larger. This 10-day festival features more than 500 performances across 16 stages located throughout the city of Bethlehem. It is so much fun and we love being part of the activities each year!

Hundreds of performances can be enjoyed by 'Festers' throughout the run of the event, and almost all of the events are free. The only ones that required a purchased ticket are the headliners each evening. On our day at the fair, the band AJR was the headliner and performed to a sold out crowd of 7,000+ people.

Although we are only able to be on site for a single day, event organizers, staff and volunteers always go above and beyond to be accommodating and welcoming to us, and we couldn't be happier.

The event is enormous, and spread out over a large area, but with the prime location we were stationed gave us the ability to talk with so many people up close and personally while on Preview Night. We offered complimentary blood pressure checks, and of course a variety of giveaway items that are always a hit.

It made us smile hearing about how happy folks are who have had the opportunity to visit any of our centers as a patient. Our Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton centers were the centers most event participants raved about. We did have others visit us from all over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, as well.

This is always such a great event. We are already looking forward to our return in 2024!

Patient First has participated in Woodbury's FAF Coalition Lot 323 Experience since 2017, and each year the event seems to grow and become even more fun than the year prior. 

Lot 323 is a cool, urban pop-up park right in the heart of Woodbury, NJ. It has a funky industrial vibe that is an inviting area to gather, play, relax and enjoy light fare and entertainment. The event provides a great gathering place for the public, as well as emerging artists and musicians, other arts and cultural organization, schools and educations groups to enjoy an evening out. Focal points included a large performing area stage, food trucks, art installations and music sculptures.

Although we hoped to be on site twice this summer, Mother Nature had other plans, forcing organizers to cancel an event in late June. But the July event we attended was warm and dry, and it far exceeded our expectations. It was great fun, and it gave us an opportunity to reconnect with many long-time Patient First fans who have had great experiences in our centers. We also had an opportunity to introduce what we do to several new folks from the community who stopped by to visit with us. 

The organization hosts these FREE Friday events several times during the summer for residents of Woodbury, and nearby towns. We are already looking forward to returning for the 2024 event season.