Health Improvement Institute Awards COPD Foundation '2015 Aesculapius Award for Excellence'
WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 18, 2015 - The COPD Foundation today announced they have been awarded the 2015 Aesculapius Award for excellence in health communication by Dr. Peter G. Goldschmidt, president and founder of the Health Improvement Institute. The Aesculapius Award of Excellence is given to organizations that excel in providing health information to the public via web communications. Each year, a panel of judges who represent healthcare, web publishing, and multimedia fields evaluate entries and select one website and one public service announcement to receive the top prize. Recipient of the 2015 Award of Excellence for health-related websites was the COPD Foundation for their entry of www.COPD360social.org.
“COPD360social was developed to serve our community as a one-stop-shop for all things related to COPD,” said John W. Walsh, president and co-founder of the COPD Foundation. “We have seen tremendous growth since our launch in November 2014, with 10,000 new members connecting and providing one another with guidance and support. The site not only provides our members with unique access to experts and free educational material, but a respite from the social isolation that is pervasive in the COPD population. We are pleased to receive this distinction from the Health Improvement Institute and will continue to leverage online communications tools to serve the COPD community.”
The annual award is named for the ancient Greek god of healing, Aesculapius, and was established by the Health Improvement Institute, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization based in Bethesda, Maryland, to promote informed consumer lifestyle choices and healthcare decisions.