Retirement rumor denied.

While our partner and public relations maven, Steve Johnstone, has been spotted at a retirement community recently, this is not to say he’s hanging up the press pass. Instead, Steve, along with Susie Falk and Jaime Buege, have solidified a relationship with yet another client for Blue Horse Public Relations.

Our new client is the Crossings at Tudor Oaks. Welcome!

The Crossings at Tudor Oaks is a new continuing care retirement community planned for Muskego and part of the overall redevelopment of the existing Tudor Oaks community.

It will be located on the existing 110-acre campus. The Crossings will offer seniors a variety of housing options, from independent living apartment homes and assisted living apartments to memory support care units. It will also offer a variety of expanded services and amenities.

Blue Horse has been tapped to develop and implement a comprehensive public relations program in partnership with American Baptist Homes of the Midwest (ABHM), the community owners; Greystone Communities, Inc., developers of the Crossings at Tudor Oaks; and GlynnDevins, the national advertising and public relations agency for Greystone Communities.

We are grateful to Randy Eilts, director of public relations for GlynnDevins, who was instrumental in cementing the relationship.

As for Steve Johnstone, make sure you attend his upcoming seminar, “Musings of a Public Relations Pro or What I Learned During the Harding Administration.” It’ll be the bees knees.

Spasmodic Torticollis. Don't know what it is? It's our latest assignment.

Recently, Blue Horse vice president of public relations, Susie Falk, gathered us together for an announcement. “Good news!” she said, “The Spasmodic Torticollis Dystonia Association would like us to conduct an awareness campaign on their behalf.” After the clapping, Susie asked the assembled Blue Horse folks if anyone actually knew what Spasmodic Torticollis or Dystonia is.

Blank stares.

And that’s the problem. Spasmodic Torticollis is actually a debilitating disease that plagues more than one million people, many of them undiagnosed. It’s characterized by involuntary movements of the head as a result of muscle spasms in the neck and shoulders. The cause or causes are not well understood but the symptoms generally progress over time and the disease is unlikely to go away on its own.

But few people are aware of this condition. That means that fewer people will know enough to ask their doctors to test for it. And that’s unfortunate, because the more people are correctly diagnosed, the fewer people will suffer needlessly. Additionally, the more people diagnosed with Dystonia, the more the drug companies fund research, which in the end will lead to an effective treatment, perhaps even a cure.

So that’s the goal for us. Currently, our public relations staff is actively seeking out stories from Dystonia sufferers to tell the world about the economic and lifestyle issues they face. If you have such a story, simply respond to this blog and we’ll be in touch.

Or write to Howard Thiel at P.O. Box 28, Mukwonago, WI 53149. Howard is the Executive Director of ST/Dystonia.

Meanwhile, as Howard is known to say, “think positive! Smile – and laugh – a lot.”

Good advice.