Illinois-based Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare yesterday announced an endorsement deal with NASCAR driver Danica Patrick as part of its "Healthy Driven" initiative. Patrick will be a featured spokesperson in an effort that includes TV and radio spots, magazine ads, billboards and a presence in a public transportation campaign. A new website, HealthyDriven.com, features the "Danica Patrick Healthy Driven Challenge." Patrick will donate up to $10,000, a dollar for each challenge taken on the site, to fight childhood obesity (
Edward-Elmhurst). In Chicago, Danny Ecker noted Edward-Elmhurst is a "west suburban health system launched 18 months ago." The new campaign "will encourage Chicago-area residents to live healthier lifestyles." Edward-Elmhurst System CEO Pam Davis said Patrick "just fit perfectly" with the campaign's mantra, as she grew up in Roscoe, Ill., and much of the hospital's patient service area is in Joliet, home of Chicagoland Speedway. The partnership, which "represents the largest media buy in the history of the three hospitals that make up Edward-Elmhurst," runs through June (
CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 12/16). Also in Chicago, Marie Wilson reported Patrick "will be in the suburbs Jan. 22 for a major health expo in Lombard billed as the Healthy Driven 500." Davis said, "She's symbolic of this whole campaign. She works out. She eats healthy. She's tough and intense but very approachable" (
DAILYHERALD.com, 12/16).
