Joe Sharp, CEO of The Thread Marketing Group, always wanted to be a pilot. His father was a pilot. His son was a pilot. Sharp’s office is full of airplanes, dominated by large prints of World War II dogfights signed by the aces.

The same nod to personality characterizes the spaces of many of Thread’s team members.

System administrator Wanda Stuart has a bullwhip hanging in her office, given to her by a client who thought she was a tough boss — she has never actually used it, as it’s easier for her to press a button and disconnect a network card if anyone gets unruly.

Joe Sharp, CEO of The Thread Marketing Group.

The centerpiece of creative director Jacqueline Barchick’s wall is a vivid multicolored poster collage of graphics— “visual candy” to inspire ideas and conversation.

Production coordinator Nikki Hale’s desk is surrounded by calendar cutouts of ’50s-style couples with captions like, “I feel a sin coming on” and “She could hardly wait to regret this.”

And while Sharp’s office is pristine and orderly, its glass and leather softly lit by cool blue lamps, his sister Judy McFarland’s space is a charming disaster.

McFarland has a fireplace in the middle of her bright office — she’s always cold, even in summer — a chair made from a large rubber exercise ball at her desk and whirlwind stacks of papers scattered all over the room. A bauble by her desk reads “Chaos: Where brilliant dreams are born.” On second glance, the décor seems to be primarily dogs. Even the ringtone on her phone is a dog barking, which makes it especially startling when it goes off in meetings.

McFarland, the company’s president, is the right brain to Sharp’s left. When she graduated from Bowling Green State University, she assumed her big brother would hire her to work in his hip graphics company. But he turned her down, and she got a great job in corporate marketing.

Thread Executive Vice President Holly Goldstein at the Thread headquarters.

Ten years later, Sharp, whose background was in Information Technology, needed to re-brand Image Source as having both technical proficiency in building websites and the marketing strategies of an ad agency. He called his little sister and asked her to join his team.

“I like to think that I’m his savior,” McFarland said.

Growth through combination

The marriage of technology and marketing in a relaxed, creative and familial team atmosphere is Thread’s crux. The company has seen annual growth in sales during the past five years, capped by a nearly 20 percent increase in 2010. It has also added five employees in the past 14 months in programming, account and creative services.

Thread has accomplished this growth with a unique combination of business strategy, technical expertise and creative graphics tailored — design, build, host and maintain websites from the company’s high-powered data centers.

“They really get it. I know that they have a track record, a long one, but I find that overall as an agency they’re very hip, they’re really with it,” said Susan Maxwell, director of marketing communications at Uckele Health and Nutrition. “However, they do apply the marketing fundamentals. You can feel that foundation.”

The company has the perfect subcontracting situation — two sister companies under Thread Corporation’s larger domain. VIS Alliance is a “logistics/communications business providing customer service support from project management to on-site staffing and administrative services,” according to Thread’s website, and eMerge specializes in electronic content management.

“They’ve taken the time to really understand what my business is and ask good questions. They’ve done some good research,” said Ryan Hacker, president of TruePoint Laser Scanning. “They’ve been able to work with me a lot after-hours and on weekends and stuff like that. I think that’s great that they understand small business and what needs to be done.”

Thread also helps manage companies’ social media presence. Kevin Cesarz is Thread’s director of social media. If consumers complain about a company’s products on sites like Facebook and Twitter, Cesarz said, that places a data point in the minds of all their friends or followers.

Kevin Cesarz is Thread’s director of social media.

The companies need a chance to respond and interact with all the real-time processing and critiquing, so Cesarz monitors social media for posts — positive, neutral or negative — about Thread’s clients.

But although social media offers a significant relational opportunity for companies, Cesarz, who writes a social media column for Toledo Free Press, stressed it is not a storefront.

“You have an opportunity to share in the discussion,” he said. “You don’t want to sell products on social media. What you want to sell on social media is your reputation.”

Creativity

The key to creativity is being bold, telling bad jokes and drinking wine in the middle of the day, McFarland and designer Rebecca Booth said.

It keeps the constantly hectic process — “Our normal is rush,” McFarland said — light, stress-free and respectful.

“We like to have fun,” McFarland said. “We play practical jokes a lot on each other.”

“Probably too much,” Sharp said.

That’s not to say creating the finished product is easy.

“It’s going to be very challenging and at times it’s going to be hard, but it should also be fun,” Sharp said.

Booth, Barchick and Jon Wittes are the design team at the center of the artistic process.

Barchick said their section of the hall has an energy unique even from the rest of the office. Especially after lunch, when the three get “soda buzzed,” each play a different radio station and yell ideas at each other through their open doors.

Team Orange

Barchick has an article titled “How to wear orange” taped to her wall. Thread recently did some marketing of its own, branding itself as “Team Orange,” a color Barchick said connotes quirkiness and energy. Even the name “Thread” is intended to create a visual of many strands of information, ideas and designs coming together to create a unified whole — a consolidated strategy for the client.

“It’s a two-way street,” McFarland said. She and Sharp realize that for their team to succeed, they must excel as bosses.

People farther down the street matter, too. McFarland said anyone may leave work early at Thread to serve the community. She is the board president of the Toledo Humane Society. Sharp is active in the Rotary Club of Toledo. Executive vice president Holly Goldstein gives her time to Toledo Children’s Hospital and Chicks for Charity among other organizations.

McFarland said she has even discovered the way to resolve any conflicts among Thread’s leaders.

“If something goes wrong,” she said, “I always have in my back pocket that I can just call Mom to tell on [Joe].”

On the Web: http://www.threadgroup.com/

Tags: Bowling Green State University, Chicks for Charity, Holly Goldsetin, Jacqueline Barchick, Joe Sharp, Jon Wittes, Judy McFarland, Kevin Cesarz, Patrick Timmis, Thred Marketing Group, Toledo Children's Hospital, TruePoint Laser Scanner, Uckele Health and Nutrition, Wanda Smart

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2011 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Marketing, Toledo Business Link.
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Toledo Children’s Hospital will host Going Wild for Kids! It is a fundraiser on March 24 to benefit the Autism Collaborative.

Co-chair Meredith Sherman had twins, Kate and Alex, five years ago. On top of the worries most first-time mother’s face, her babies were born six weeks early and spent more than three weeks in Toledo Children’s Hospital neonatal care unit.

“As a new mom, it was a scary time for us and the hospital staff was amazing,” Sherman said. “The doctors, the nurses and the support staff made us feel everything was going to be OK, and it was. They totally put us at ease.”

While her children are not autistic, when their health improved, she wanted to help the hospital in any way she could, she said. She joined the Toledo Children’s Hospital Foundation Board. The foundation receives and directs charitable contributions on behalf of the hospital.

Money from the event will go toward the foundation and the Autism Collaborative, a community effort to coordinate services families need for autistic children.

“There are lots of different resources around Toledo for autistic children and families, but they’re driving around to all these different specialists. This is hoping to be a catch all,” Sherman said

Catina Harding, executive director of the Great Lakes Collaborative for Autism, said that she is looking forward to promoting the collaborative in the community, especially at the fundraising event.

“What we really want to do is create a coordinated effort to make a network of care where all of the different partners are communicating with each other in an organized manner,” Harding said.

The first phase of the collaborative, Sherman said, will help families in the recognition stage — around age 2 — when children are first diagnosed. As it grows and as funds allow, they will add different resources building from the early stages upward.

Other organizations involved with the Autism Collaborative include Harbor, the Autism Model School, the Autism Society of Northwest Ohio, University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Help Me Grow, Bittersweet Farms, Perrysburg Schools and Mercy Health Partners, Harding said.

“While everything will not be under one roof — we will continually work with all partners to ensure the families are aware of all services available as well as how to access each,” she said.

The collaborative already accomplished creating a sixth through 12th grade after school program for autistic children and are trying to establish an early intervention program at Toledo Children’s Hospital.

The group has also established the Autism Collaborative Council, a group that will meet on a regular basis to assess and address the needs and strengths of services that serve families affected by autism, Harding said.

“The goal is to create a community network of care that will develop a highly personalized treatment plan for each family and provide support for each phase of each child’s life,” she said.

The butterfly-themed night will have both a silent and live auction and a video that will explain the Autism Collaborative. It will be the first time the video is viewed by anyone outside of those who made it, Sherman said.

Going Wild for Kids! begins at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, Perrysburg. Tickets are $100 each. For more information, call Toledo Children’s Hospital at (419) 291-3493.

Tags: Autism, Autism Collaborative, Bittersweet Farms, Bowling Green State University, Going Wild, Harbor, Help Me Grow, Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Mercy Health Partners, Perrysburg Schools, the Autism Model School, the Autism Society of Northwest Ohio, Toledo Children's Hospital, University of Toledo

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 20th, 2011 at 9:36 am and is filed under Community, Health Care.
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The Melting Pot is hosting “Cheese for Charity” on April 11.

The event is part of a national “Cheese for Charity” day by The Melting Pot, with each store choosing its own charity to support, said Roy Hansen, front of house manager at The Melting Pot of Toledo.

The Melting Pot has previously worked with the Toledo Children’s Hospital, so the restaurant chose to support the organization through this fundraising event. Toledo Children’s Hospital will receive $10 of every cheese fondue purchase on April 11.

The Melting Pot is located at 5839 Monroe St. Hours for the event will be from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

For more information visit, www.meltingpot.com/toledo.

Tags: Melting Pot, Toledo Children's Hospital

This entry was posted on Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 8:31 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Fundraiser.
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The third floor of Toledo Children’s Hospital is charged with caring for the region’s most vulnerable citizens — the infants in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Mission accepted.

To celebrate another year of success stories and the progress made by NICU graduates, the annual NICU reunion will take place Sept. 20 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ability Center of Greater Toledo.

NICU director Judy Gresky said the event is special for the entire staff.

“It really is a chance for the nurses to get to see the families,” she said. “The doctors remember, too.” The doctors and nurses enjoy seeing the progress their former patients have made after leaving the third floor, she said.

Toledo Children’s Hospital treats babies “from 22 weeks to full term.” The third floor is able to handle this wide range due to its status as a Level III NICU, which enables it to treat the most critically ill newborns, as well as those simply needing minor additional help. The Toledo Children’s Hospital NICU is the largest Level III NICU in the region and it serves 27 counties in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.

Sarah Reynolds cares for an infant in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Toledo Children’s Hospital.

The NICU, which opened in 1974, treats 700 to 800 babies each year, Gresky said. The 2008 average was 47 babies at a time, but this year’s average occupancy is lower.

“We don’t know if it’s because of the economy or what,” she said, citing a change in family planning due to the recession.  At maximum occupancy, the third floor can treat 60 babies in its 44 rooms, which include 28 singles and 16 doubles.

“We’ve only been in this unit for a year and a half,” said ProMedica Health System Director of Media Relations Tedra White.

According to Gresky, the former NICU was limited to 25 square feet per newborn, with all infants in a single large room. The new NICU is much more spacious, with each baby having an average of 150 square feet of space for optimal comfort and silence. The east wing of the floor houses the nearly healthy newborns, while the west wing is reserved for the more fragile babies. Each newborn is connected to a heart monitor, and many incubators are technologically advanced to provide warmth and to allow easy access for caretakers without having to relocate the baby for treatment.

Special features

Special features of the third floor include two transition rooms, which allow families to adjust to caring for their babies before they are released, an operating room and a transport room, which stores four mobile incubators and flight suits for transit by air ambulance. Gresky spoke highly of the NICU transport team.

“They do a very good job,” she said. The goal is to be airborne in 22 minutes.

At the time of the interview, Gresky said the occupancy of the NICU to be 45 infants, under the care of 18 nurses.

“Usually, we have a one-to-two or one-to-three [nurse-to-] baby assignment,” she said. According to Gresky, who has 30 years of nursing experience and has been at the head of the NICU for three years, the NICU staff is numerous and varied.

“We require a pretty heavy support staff,” she said. “We have close to 160 people.” This staff includes five licensed practical nurses (LPN), 122 registered nurses (RN), eight neonatologists, including one doctor in-house at all times, as well as four nurse practitioners and the transport team. Not only is this workforce numerous, but it is also experienced.

“Our average experience during the day is 24 years,” Gresky said.

Rewarding job

One nurse who has played a role on the staff is Sarah Reynolds, an RN who has eleven years of NICU experience. Reynolds first decided to enter neonatal nursing upon the premature birth of her own child while she was in nursing school.

“[My job] is rewarding,” she said.  “It makes you feel good.”

Gary Kemerer, was born premature in March 2007. According to his father, Ken Kemerer, Gary was born after 24 weeks of pregnancy and weighed a mere one pound, 15 ounces at birth. Gary’s twin brother, Jacob, had been diagnosed with low amniotic fluid while still in the womb, and this ultimately forced the early delivery at Toledo Hospital.

Jacob died eight hours after delivery, and Gary, who had no issues while in the womb, had an uphill battle due to his very premature birth.

“Primarily, [Gary’s issue] was lung function,” Ken said.  “He was on a respirator for almost 30 days, and he also had a heart issue.”

Gary remained in the NICU until June before coming home, and he returned to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in August.

“We were living in the hospital four of the first five months of his life,’’ Ken said.

Fortunately, Gary continued to develop normally, much to the credit of his initial care in the NICU, his father said. Today, Gary is nearly 40 inches tall (thanks in part to his father’s 6-foot-7 frame), and his speech and motor skills are normal for his age.  Ken credited the nurses with emotionally supporting Gary’s mother, Mary, as well as keeping them informed at all times.

“The hospital staff was phenomenal at educating us and telling us what the next step was going to be,” Ken said. “Everything has turned out well … it’s almost a miracle. He wouldn’t be doing as well as he is if it wasn’t for the people at Toledo Children’s.”

Mary couldn’t agree more.

“He wasn’t just a patient to them,” she said.  “I got to know all of the nursing staff, so when I wasn’t there, I felt very comfortable leaving him with the nurses.”

Ken Kemerer noted Sarah Reynolds as a large reason for Gary’s success.

“The word ‘hero’ doesn’t normally apply to people like [Sarah], but in my opinion it applies here because people like Sarah cared enough to know that when something goes wrong, it hurts. They care almost as much as the parents.  A majority of the time things turn out good. Sarah is one of those nurses,” Ken said.

Mary, a first-grade teacher, still takes Gary to the NICU to see his nurses every three to six months, and they plan to attend the NICU reunion. Additionally, they attended the reunion last year and a black tie fundraiser for the hospital, where Gary served as the ambassador.

According to the Kemerers, who reside in Adrian, Mich., the reunion is a great opportunity to connect with other families who have experienced the roller coaster of having a baby in the NICU.

“There are quite a few families that I still keep in contact with,” Mary said. She explained that since the NICU serves 27 counties, most of the families are not centrally located, so the reunion serves as a way to reunite them once a year.

“It’s really cool to go back and see them in person,” Mary said. “The kids can interact now.”

The Ability Center of Greater Toledo is located at 5605 Monroe St. in Sylvania. The reunion will include games, crafts, entertainment and refreshments. Families of NICU graduates of all ages are welcome.

Tags: Toledo Children's Hospital

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under Community, Health Care.
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