Northern Light Health Tackles Loneliness with ‘How Are You?’ Campaign

// By Althea Fung //

Loneliness is an epidemic worsened by the pandemic. It hits some age groups harder than others. A campaign designed to help people assess their level of loneliness is helping people connect with one another and the care they need.

If you’ve been feeling lonely lately, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, loneliness is steadily rising in the U.S. In 2019, a study on loneliness from Cigna found that three in five Americans (61 percent) reported feeling lonely, compared to about 54 percent in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened the loneliness epidemic in this country. Cigna’s latest report on loneliness found that 79 percent of young adults reported feeling lonely. About 40 percent of seniors have expressed similar sentiments.

The marketing and communications team at Northern Light Health, a 10-hospital health system in Maine, saw that the loneliness issue was acute in Maine, where more than 135,000 people over the age of 50 live alone.

Jonathan Hutter, director of brand and marketing at Northern Light Health

“Coming out of COVID, we saw there was a global discussion about healthcare and the need to reconnect,” says Jonathan Hutter, director of brand and marketing at Northern Light Health. “People were putting aside primary care and maybe other care that was not immediately urgent. While their health suffered from that, they were also experiencing isolation from not having regular connections because of masking, stay-at-home orders, and not undertaking social activities.”

Recognizing the need to bring light to this issue, Hutter and his team launched the ‘How Are You?’ campaign. Hutter says the campaign provides resources online for users to evaluate if they’re suffering from loneliness, and connects users to behavioral health, primary care, and women’s health services.

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