Anniversaries are proof of a strong collaboration

March 18th, 2015

My parents celebrated their 50^th anniversary several years ago. They might go down in history as the only couple reaching this milestone who not only refused to let their children throw them a party, but also insisted that they would treat the family to dinner out as a celebration.

What?! It wasn’t exactly what my siblings and I had in mind, but my parents were stubborn. They wouldn’t even tell us where they had planned for us to go to dinner because they were afraid we would sneak around and make arrangements to pay for the meal. We finally gave up. We settled for buying them flowers and a set of luggage stuffed with clothing and accessories for their upcoming trip to Alaska, along with a picture book of Alaska.

Yes, my parents are stubborn, but they’re also dependable, honest, and stable, which is at least part of the reason that their marriage has lasted for 50 plus years. These same qualities have helped our newsletters celebrate anniversaries of up to 40 years and counting. This year, our Contraceptive Technology Update newsletter celebrates its 35^th anniversary. The newsletter was started as a companion to the contraceptive “Bible,” Contraceptive Technology, written by Dr. Bob Hatcher at Emory University and others. Thirty-six years later, Bob is still heavily involved in reviewing each issue of our newsletter, along with other Contraceptive Technology authors. The newsletter has been written since 1996 by Rebecca Bowers, an outstanding journalist.

It’s that type of collaboration that is one of the keys to success for our publications. We rely on healthcare clinicians and managers for our content, and they rely on our journalism, publishing, and marketing expertise to get the word out. It’s a marriage made in heaven.