Get h-APP-ening

How smartphone apps can improve your health and wellness There is no doubt smartphones have changed the flow of communication. But the question is, how are hand held devices allowing us to be proactive and educated about our own health? Not only are consumers being spoilt for choice by the surplus of apps available, the…

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Newcastle the starting point for stronger epilepsy support

Newcastle is among the nation’s first communities to benefit from DisabilityCare Australia, the national disability insurance scheme, kicking off with an epilepsy forum today. Novocastrians living with disabilities and epilepsy, their families and disability organisations will have the opportunity to participate in the ‘Epilepsy Know Me, Support Me’ program to be canvassed at Noah’s on…

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Getting thrown into the deep end, hoping to swim!

Getting thrown into the deep end, hoping to swim! My first two weeks at VIVA! have shown me some of the specialist skills required to operate in health + wellness public relations. I was thrown into the deep end as my previous communications internships were in consumer-driven environments. By the end of my first day…

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Mummy blogs best

Forget about journalists, it’s bloggers that PR companies need to cultivate nowadays. As mentioned in past VIVA! blogs, journalists – especially health journalists – as we know them are a dying breed with the shrinking newsroom. This has helped pave the way for the rise of the ‘blogger’. Bloggers are not a particularly new phenomenon. The…

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Telling your health story with Instagram

When I first heard the rumblings that yet another mobile social media platform had launched into the market, I was somewhat sceptical. But I have learnt a lot more about Instagram since. I now know that it boasts around 100 million users and after some research, have found that the free, instant photo-sharing app (now…

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