In this weeks #ChalkChat, Senior Brand Strategist Mike Smith shares 6 key factors to designing an effective lead nurturing program.

#ChalkChat is a weekly video series that brings you insights on branding, marketing and multichannel integration within the pharmaceutical industry. Follow us at #ChalkChat. Follow up with Mike @mikesmith55.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

By Christina Schiavo, Corporate Relations Intern, Palio

We’ve recently been thrilled watching the powerhouse women’s Olympic row team, and equally thrilled that one of our colleagues is a rower. Video Production Specialist, Elissa Nadworny, has been rowing for years. It is a physically demanding sport, requiring strong core balance, strength, overall endurance, and precise teamwork.

Rowing is one of the oldest Olympic sports wherein athletes race against one another on a body of water, which varies depending on the type of race. Competitions can be held on rivers, lakes, or oceans. Each member of a row team sits in the boat facing towards the stern, or in other words, facing backwards. Oars are used to propel the boat forward (towards the bow of the boat).

Types of rowing competitions vary as well as forms of rowing. To be specific, the two main forms are sweep and sculling. In sweep, each rower has one oar that is held with both hands, and is generally done in pairs, fours or eights. When in a sweep boat, you’re either a starboard or a port depending on the side you’re on. Starboard is on the bow side, while the port side is referred to as the stroke side. On the other hand, in sculling each rower has two oars. This form of racing is generally done is quads, doubles or even singles and usually doesn’t include a coxswain (the person in the boat who instructs the team).

Similar to swimming, rowing is one of the few non-weight training sports that has the ability to exercise your entire body.  It improves cardiovascular endurance as well as physical strength by exercising all major muscle groups including: biceps, triceps, quads, lats, abdominal, and glutes.

Nadworny started her rowing career in high school, and the story behind it is funny, to say the least. The crew club was new to her high school and offered a free t-shirt to anyone who attended the initial meeting. “I went with five other friends just for the free t-shirt,” said Nadworny. “But I decided to stick with it and I couldn’t be happier that I did.”

From the high school crew team, Nadworny decided to continue with her passion of rowing through college. She joined Skidmore College’s D3 crew team.  Unfortunately, the coach would only allow 5′ 3″ Elissa to hold coxswain position due to her height. Upon her decision to study abroad her junior year, she joined an Amsterdam rowing group called Skull. Working with this group was a great learning experience for Nadworny, especially because they train the Olympic team from the Netherlands. Through the experience, she built stronger skills, endurance and physical strength and was able to prove her capabilities to her coach back home. Nadworny used an ergometer, an indoor rowing machine, to showcase her abilities and wowed everyone. Not only did she have an impressive score, but she ranked highest on the team. The next racing season, Nadworny was a member of Skidmore’s Women’s Varsity A boat as a rower, not a coxswain. The boat ended the season ranked 14th in the Nation.

Currently, Nadworny is a member of Skidmore Community Rowing (SCR). “It’s nice to be able to continue doing what I love and what I’m good at,” said Nadworny. “I most enjoy being a part of a team, working together towards a common goal.” With the SCR, Nadworny is the 7^th seat – the seat generally reserved for a taller individual based on the amount of strength it requires to row from that position.

Alongside being a member of the SCR team, Nadworny has been coaching the Skidmore novice men’s team for the past two years. “I love that I’m a part of such a rowing community here in Saratoga Springs,” said Nadworny. “It’s great to be able to row, race and coach all within the area.”

Nadworny and the SCR recently competed in the U.S. Rowing National Championship. It was a 1,000 meter race and the form was sweep with 8 individuals in the boat. There were three heats of six boats, allowing the top two teams to advance in the finals. SCR’s team worked hard and was able to place 3^rd in their heat. “This past race, I got that feeling where your body is tingling, like you’re about to pass out,” said Nadworny. “It felt amazing because I knew I pushed myself as hard as I possibly could and it was incredibly rewarding.”

Nadworny talked about how difficult the sport truly is. “Pushing myself that hard took some getting used to,” she said. “You have to leave it all on the water and truly give it your everything.”

Here at Palio, health and wellness runs through everything we do – in the office and out. And our employees are involved from every angle! From running to yoga, and tennis to ironman – you name it, we’ve got folks who do it. Because health is such a big part of our lives and work, our Because We Can health initiatives series is designed to highlight the passions, commitments, accomplishments and goals of a few of the members of our team. Follow up with Elissa @ElissaNadworny.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

By Steve Toman, Account Director, Managed Markets, Palio

Back in the mid-1990s I worked in provider relations and sales for a large, national health plan. Talking about work at cocktail parties was rough – everyone seemed to have a gripe about managed care. But going to the barber shop was the worst. From the moment I walked in, Jimmy (who happened to be a member of my health plan) started in with complaints about denied bills, rejected prior authorizations, bad customer service, and on and on.

One day, during a conversation about the good old days of simple health insurance, Jimmy asked, “What changed? What happened that we wound up with this managed care?”

I tried to explain that it was complicated, but the exploding cost of healthcare was the primary driver for the growth of managed care. The Congressional Budget Office once reported that about half of all growth in healthcare spending over the past several decades is associated with changes in medical care made possible by advances in technology. All those breakthrough treatments, procedures, and therapies have come at a cost; a cost that good old simple health insurance was unable to control.

During the 1970s and 1980s, healthcare costs rose approximately 13% annually, while the gross domestic product (GDP) increased only 8.5% per year. That’s a huge gap, especially over 20 years, and has major implications for our ability to compete in an increasingly global economy. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, total healthcare spending in the US was 17.4% of GDP in 2009, by far the highest in the world. For many industrialized countries, this figure is around 10%. To put it in perspective, in 2011 the United States spent about $2.5 trillion on healthcare, or about $8,047 per person. In March 2010, investor Warren Buffet commented that the high cost for healthcare paid by the US is “like a tapeworm eating at our economic body.”

The Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Act of 1973 provided funding for federally qualified HMOs and jumpstarted a drive towards managed care. Rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s ensured that most Americans accessed their healthcare through some flavor of managed care, rather than traditional health insurance.

On another visit to the barber, I remember Jimmy asking, “What is managed care anyway?” Always trying to be a good steward for my industry, I tried to explain that managed care is a system of medical management in which purchasers, insurers, healthcare providers, and patients are linked together with the common goal of improving healthcare quality and reducing costs. What makes managed care different from good old health insurance are things like:

• Contracts between insurers and healthcare providers that share financial risk and provide members with a defined set of services
• Incentives for healthcare providers and patients to use care efficiently, with an emphasis on preventive care
• Utilization review and quality management techniques designed to improve quality and decrease costs

For the next few haircuts, Jimmy and I talked more about healthcare costs and our managed care “response.” For a while, he got pretty excited about trying to set up some sort of capitation plan for customers like me. Ultimately, he seemed to recognize that despite its shortcomings, managed care’s goals of improving quality and efficiency were perhaps the best route to making healthcare accessible and affordable. He asked me, “How do you think we should improve quality and efficiency in our healthcare system?”

I remember thinking it over, then sharing with him that we all have skin in the game. Each and every one of us needs to pull in the same direction, by:

• Improving our health. Americans have the highest BMI according to the World Health Organization, and that leads to higher disease rates
• Preventing and managing chronic diseases, particularly those most affected by lifestyle choices – diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and lung disorders
• Improving quality by adopting healthcare delivery and payment models that optimize the coordination of care, improve patient outcomes, reward quality, and promote wellness
• Reducing waste. The Institute of Medicine’s “Health Care Imperative” identifies $463 billion in annual savings through best practices for both healthcare providers and insurers
• Expanding access. By driving patients into appropriate delivery settings that are focused on prevention and wellness, we can improve efficiency
• Harnessing the power of the individual. Improving consumers’ ability to compare the effectiveness and costs of various treatment options can have an enormous impact on quality and affordability

I stopped going to Jimmy when I left the health plan and moved into the next phase of my career. Helping pharmaceutical companies better understand and communicate with payer customers is much more difficult to explain at cocktail parties, but I don’t miss listening to people complain about their health plan. For all I know, Jimmy may still be griping about managed care to his customers, but in some form or another managed care is here to stay, and it’s up to us to make the most of it.

Managed Markets Monday is a weekly series that provides insight into what we think it takes to meaningfully and effectively communicate with the payer customer. Follow up with Steve at: stoman@palio.com.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

Palio’s Jim Mittler, PhD, Medical Director, shares a little history on The Graveyard of Champions, or Saratoga Race Course.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

Certain photos courtesy of NYRA, Adam Coglianese

In this weeks #ChalkChat, Elissa Nadworny, Palio’s Video Production Specialist, shares tips for filming video with a smart phone or flip camera.

#ChalkChat is a weekly video series that brings you insights on branding, marketing and multichannel integration within the pharmaceutical industry. Follow us at #ChalkChat. Follow up with Elissa Nadworny @elissanadworny.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

By Riagan McMahon, Guest Blogger

Riagan McMahon was nominated to participate as a National Youth Correspondent, representing Saratoga Springs High School and New York State, in the Washington Journalism and Media Conference held July 8 through 13. As a National Youth Correspondent, she was recognized as one of the most promising young leaders in journalism and media and joined scholars from across the country to share in this experience.

As part of this elite group, she participated in hands-on learning projects that challenged her to solve problems, as well as dive deep into the creative, practical, and ethical tensions inherent in journalism and media. If she was interested in communications and public relations before the conference, she is downright committed to the field now.

Riagan reached out to Palio for corporate sponsorship and we made a deal: We would gladly sponsor her if she agreed to write about her experiences. In the next series of posts, Riagan shares the insights and moments that most impacted her during the conference. In this post, she discovers the power of photography:

Hello, I am Riagan McMahon blogging about the experiences I was fortunate to have at The Washington Journalism and Media Conference. I am a senior at Saratoga Springs High School and an aspiring communications and public relations major.

The Newseum in Washington, DC, provides visitors with delicately constructed exhibits that exemplify journalism at its best. The exhibits are amazing, and one in particular astounded me. I was drawn to the quote by the late photographer Eddie Adams immediately after entering the Newseum’s Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery: “If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture.” It proves just how complex and powerful a photograph can be. The power of a photograph can touch upon each and every emotion we possess and make us feel each one.

The Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery touched me, and it’s here that I found the poignant aspect to a career in communications and media. The Newseum Gallery provided award-winning photographs not only as collages, but also with descriptions of the environment of the print and interviews with several of the photographers.

Each of the photos displayed iconic images that documented our history and included the photographer’s explanation of the image. It was powerful. Part of the exhibit included a series of televisions that created a montage of several of the artists sharing what they found extraordinary about the Pulitzer-winning photos.

One photographer, Carol Guzy, shared a message that I hope to take with me as a grounding piece of advice for my future: “I think it’s a gut level connection that people have with photographs, unlike a lot of times stories or even video. There’s something about the still moment, that moment in time that does touch people. It’s very visceral, and I don’t think it’s intellectual a lot of times at all. And, I think that – as a photographer, that’s what you need to strive to do, is try to have the empathy – and one time someone told me empathy is not imagining how you would feel in a particular situation, it’s actually feeling what the other person is feeling.”

Not only is it essential for the person behind the lens to understand the feelings in front of the camera, but to also feel the power in the subject of the photo and go beyond relating to their expression. The skill of capturing a Pulitzer-winning photograph is to feel as if you are inevitably attached to the scene you are capturing.

There were several photographs of war, terror, and misfortunes, but the pictures exhibiting simple joy were the ones that touched me the most. These Pulitzer photos give observers the ability to feel the emotions of the subjects through the lens. “Moments of Life,” taken by photojournalist Brian Lanker, was exceptionally touching. The miracle of childbirth captured on film was what won Lanker the 1973 Pulitzer Prize.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

By Christina Schiavo, Corporate Relations Intern, Palio

It’s that time of year again; you can just feel it in the air –Saratoga Springs has come alive! The city of Saratoga is a gem, offering big city entertainment with a small city feel. Everything from Saratoga Performing Arts Center to the thoroughbred horseracing track, from the main street to the annual spectacular galas make this city a summer hotspot.

Don’t believe us? Saratoga Springs was on the Top 100 Best Places to Live ranked by Money Magazine in 2011. In addition, Saratoga’s Broadway was recently ranked number 9 on Travel & Leisure’s list of America’s Greatest Main Streets and CNN Travel included Saratoga in a list of hideaways that aren’t the Hamptons. Gallivant through town, experience the memorable shops, boutiques and restaurants that give you the sense of the exceptional flavor of Saratoga. Walk around other parts of downtown to experience the historic features such as the exquisite Painted Ladies. Spend time exploring the wide variety of museums that Saratoga has to offer, or take a relaxing stroll through glorious Congress Park. Hit a few of the popular bars down of Caroline Street for a good time. One thing is for sure, this city is nothing short of fascinating.

Events, events, events galore! Summer fun is something Saratoga knows best. ABC News voted Saratoga as one of the Best 4th of July Small-Town Celebrations. Colorful fireworks lit up Congress Park and Caroline Street was packed with people celebrating our nation’s independence!  Another great summer event is the Fasig Tipton. This event is an auction gala for the Saratoga Select Yearlings that draws in local fans and celebrities from around the world.

Saratoga is famously known for health, history and horses and these values are most noticeable this time of year. The thoroughbred horses, world renowned venue, and spirit of the fans serves every year to create America’s most prestigious and captivating racing meet. There are those among us who fell in love with Saratoga at first sight.

The first horse racing meet in Saratoga ws held in August 1863 and was so successful, the Saratoga Race Course and first grandstand were built for the renewal of the meet in 1864. Founders, William R. Travers and John Hunter, couldn’t have dreamt the enchantment this racetrack would continue to provide years later. Next year marks the 150th celebration of the Saratoga Race Course and the original venue still stands today, retaining that same essence and historic design.

The Graveyard of Favorites or The Graveyard of Champions, depending upon your luck, is not only the oldest racetrack in North America, but she is the oldest sporting venue of any kind in this country. Maybe that’s where the magic comes from; knowing her roots are so deeply imgrained in the sport and more importantly, this unique city. She is truly an architectural treasure. Take time to notice her charming features such as the mahogany wood that outlines her frame. She is one of a kind and the beauty that she’ll never be replaced by a modern day structure makes for a delightful track experience.

One of the biggest draws to the Saratoga Race Course every summer is, of course, The Travers Stakes. This race is the oldest major stakes race for thoroughbred horses and was named after the founder, William R. Travers. The 2012 Travers Day is this Saturday, August 25 and this is an event you don’t want to miss! Other big annual events celebrated at Saratoga Race Course include The Alabama Stakes, The Woodward Stakes, The Whitney Invitational, and The Hopeful Stakes.

The Alabama Stakes is the filly equivalent to The Travers Stakes. This Grade 1 race is restricted to 3-year-old fillies (young, female horses) and is th elast and decisive race for the Triple Tiara – the filly Triple Crown. Named after racehorse owner, George Nicholas Woodward, The Woodward Stakes is a Grade 1 stakes race for older thoroughbred horses. The Whitney Invitational is also a race for older thoroughbred horses, 3-years-old and up. The significance of this race is it’s a Breeders’ Cup or better known as a “Win and you’re in” race. The winner of The Whitney Invitational received an automatic bid to the Breeders’ Cup Classic that takes place in November. Lastly, The Hopeful Stakes is a Grade 2 race for 2-year-old fillies and colts (young, male horses). This is a race to see! Generally speaking, the young horses that race The Hopeful Stakes go one to contend for the Kentucky Derby in the following spring as a 3-year-old horse. This year’s Derby and Preakness winner, I’ll Have Another, raced in it last year but finished sixth! Will there be a new star crowned in this year’s Hopeful?

This year, Saratoga Race Course has enhanced the on-track hospitality area by the introduction of a new Beer Garden. The Saratoga Beer Garden offers fans an impressive beer list that includes: Blue Moon Belgian White, Blue Moon Summer, Batch 19, Brooklyn Summer, Harpoon IPA, Adirondack Bear Naked Ale, Magic Hat #9, Olde Saratoga IPA, Sam Adams Lager, Sam Adams Summer Ale, Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, and Saranac Blueberry Blonde. Can you say yum! The Beer Garden is located just outside the Carousel.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

By Jon Haas, VP, Managed Markets, Palio

Specialty Pharmacy is one of the leading growth segments of healthcare delivery in the United States. So, what is a Specialty Pharmacy?

In order to answer that, let me first define a specialty drug.

“Specialty drug” is not an FDA designation, and there is no standard industry definition. However, products that are categorized as such typically meet the following criteria:

• Are high cost (>$1200/month)
• Require special handling and administration
• May require unique inventory management
• May have an FDA-mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program in place that requires more intense support, such as physician certifications, diagnostic results, physician/pharmacist training, and/or other requirements that must be met prior to dispensing

Payers are treating specialty products with increased scrutiny as the industry seeks to provide better outcomes at lower costs. Ten years ago, drugs dispensed by a Specialty Pharmacy were primarily injectables. Today, a Specialty Pharmacy also dispenses oral drugs that can be considered specialty by the criteria I listed earlier and/or are for niche or orphan disease states. In 1990 there were 10 specialty drugs on the market, while in 2010 there were 250 specialty drugs. Approximately 40% of current pipeline drugs are likely to be considered as specialty.

OK, so what is a Specialty Pharmacy?

In the same way that specialty drugs lack a precise definition, Specialty Pharmacy designation is considered “self-proclaimed” and not generally recognized as such by any government-licensing agency. However, drug manufacturers and payers recognize the distinction:

• There is also no licensing or certification required for a pharmacist to work in a Specialty Pharmacy
• A Specialty Pharmacy can handle reimbursement investigation, prior authorization requirements, dispensing, education/counseling services, patient assistance, and compliance/persistence programs
• A Specialty Pharmacy can also improve persistency significantly vs a retail store with proactive patient “touch points”
• Only a Specialty Pharmacy can fill under a patient’s medical benefit and/or pharmacy benefit (some insurance companies cover specialty drugs under the medical benefit or both medical and pharmacy); a retail pharmacy can only dispense under a patient’s pharmacy benefit
• New specialty drug launches and early-stage products (1 to 3 years post-launch) are often restricted to Specialty Pharmacy fulfillment exclusively. As products move further into the life cycle they may also be available in retail stores as long as payer and FDA requirements allow for it

A Specialty Pharmacy can vary tremendously in model, size, and structure and may look like a normal retail store, or may be mail-order only, or may be a combination of retail and mail-order. However, a Specialty Pharmacy is a unique entity and should not be confused with a mail-order pharmacy or a specialty distributor.

In the 80s and early 90s, Specialty Pharmacies were typically focused in fertility and oncology. Today, most Specialty Pharmacies have expanded focus on various disease states such as Hep-C, HIV, autoimmune diseases (Crohn’s, rheumatoid arthritis), multiple sclerosis, and orphan diseases.

The largest Specialty Pharmacies such as CuraScript, Caremark, Walgreens Specialty, and Accredo have the most available patients (covered lives) and thus, are targeted and contracted with for access inclusion by the manufacturer and payer. There are a number of mid-sized Specialty Pharmacies and hundreds of regional Specialty Pharmacies. Some Specialty Pharmacies are payer- or PBM-owned like CuraScript (ESI), Accredo (ESI), OptumRx (UnitedHealth group) and Caremark (CVS/Caremark). Others are independent such as Walgreens Specialty, Diplomat, and Acaria. Two of the largest have a retail component (Walgreens and Caremark) giving them the capability for retail stores to triage the prescription for fulfillment to their specialty facility.

What about the payer’s view on Specialty Pharmacy?

Payers typically specify a limited network of Specialty Pharmacies that are authorized to fill prescriptions. Some will allow an initial “courtesy” fill, but prescriptions must be triaged to a Specialty Pharmacy in network for continuation of therapy. Payers may apply an additional tier for formulary inclusion and co-pay, designated for specialty drugs. Some payers apply a coinsurance amount (typically 20%) to the specialty tier vs the co-pay associated with tier 1 (generic), tier 2 (preferred brand) and tier 3 (non-preferred brand) drugs. Given that specialty drugs are expensive, the 20% co-insurance can be a burden to many patients, although many manufacturers have a co-pay mitigation program in place to offset the coinsurance or co-pay.

The space is growing so rapidly that new businesses have been created like The Community Specialty Pharmacy Network and Armada Healthcare to support Specialty Pharmacies with GPO (group purchasing), educational, operational, and other support services. These, and other like entities, provide guidance and services to manufacturers when launching in the specialty space, and to payers to help manage their specialty spend.

Implications for payer and access efforts

Specialty Pharmacies are an integral component of healthcare delivery for specialty drugs. The overall managed markets, access, and distribution strategy should always consider Specialty Pharmacy as a critical partner for a successful specialty launch. Thus, we should always include discussions around Specialty Pharmacy when assessing the needs of our clients and developing the “story” to achieve our clients’ objectives.

Managed Markets Monday is a weekly series that provides insight into what we think it takes to meaningfully and effectively communicate with the payer customer. Follow up with Jon Haas at jon.haas@palio.com.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

In this week’s #ChalkChat, Joe Arcuri, Palio’s Director of Multichannel Services, discusses 5 ways info-graphics can extend online brand reach.

#ChalkChat is a weekly video series that brings you insights on branding, marketing and multichannel integration within the pharmaceutical industry. Follow us at #ChalkChat. Follow up with Joe Arcuri @joearcuri.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.

By Christina Schiavo, Corporate Relations Intern, Palio

Practiced for more than 5,000 years, yoga is still underestimated as a good source of fitness by nonbelievers. You know what we say to those nonbelievers? –Give it a go and see how “easy” it really is. Most don’t realize that yoga offers many health benefits, enabling you to develop better flexibility, strength and balance. Classes offer breathing techniques as well as meditation practices, which help with relaxation and stress relief.

Here at Palio, there are a handful of individuals who practice yoga religiously. Going even further, two of our employees are in the midst of becoming yoga certified: Leah Warner and Taegan Grice. Currently, Warner and Grice are both participating in a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Certification course through Hot Yoga/One Yoga Saratoga. The course consists of 6 weekends with 30 hours of training. In the certification process Grice and Warner are going over theories, teachings of yoga, karma, dharma, health benefits, schools of thought and overall styles of yoga.

Warner started practicing yoga about 5 years ago as an additional supplement to running and weight training.  She was also interested in using yoga as an outlet for coping with stress and anxiety. Since, yoga has become a passion of hers based on the numerous health benefits she’s enjoyed. “There are so many benefits to practicing (physical, mental and spiritual),” said Warner. “Yoga centers me, calms my mind and helps me achieve focus and balance both on and off the mat. I have also gained incredible strength and flexibility.”

Warner’s first class was a Vinyasa class, focusing on movement through breath, which instantly hooked her. Moving onto more advanced classes, she began “hot” yoga also known as Bikram. For those of you that don’t know, Bikram is probably one of the hardest and most physically challenging workouts. To further explain, Bikram takes place in a room that is generally heated to about 105 degrees. It is a series of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises within a 90 minute timeframe. In simplest terms, you sweat like you never have before, releasing all the toxins from your body. “One of my friends in DC took me to my first Bikram class a few years ago and found it to be one of the most intense workouts I’ve experienced,” said Warner.

Leah Warner, practicing Toe Stand or Padangustasana.

Alongside Bikram, Warner enjoys Ashtanga (8 limbed yoga), which is a form of Vinyasa, Yin Yoga (intense stretching) and Forrest yoga. Warner goes to a variety of classes but is partial to Ashtanga, which is what the two are focusing on through the certification process. Warner’s enthusiasm about yoga is vibrant and contagious, making anyone who talks to her eager to try it. “I love how yoga makes me feel. I am genuinely a happier, more grounded person while I am practicing than when I’m not.”

Grice has always been an athlete enjoying running, field hockey and track. After an unfortunate skiing accident where she broke her femur, it was clear she needed to ease back into physical activity. Running or any high impact workout became a challenge for Grice, which is why her physical therapist encouraged her to try yoga, saying that yoga would help with range of motion in her hip and leg, as well as become an outlet for de-stressing and restoring balance. Grice listened to this advice, gave yoga a shot about 3 years ago and has been in love ever since.Yoga has enabled Grice to enjoy countless health benefits such as staying physically fit and loosening her joints, all the while relaxing her mind and allowing her to focus. “Yoga is more than just a physical practice for me. I find that getting into really great shape is just a perk,” said Grice. “Yoga has helped me focus and find balance. I found that over the first year of practice I was sleeping better, relieving stress easier, and all the while healing my body.” Grice is walking proof that yoga can serve to improve health as well as mental stability. She finds that yoga allows her to hone into something specific to train her mind to focus on one activity. It balances and positively impacts her life both mentally and physically. “Yoga starts my day off right and ends my day right,” said Grice.

Taegan Grice in a head stand.

It is clear that both women are very passionate about yoga –So passionate that they want to continue learning and share their knowledge and experiences with others. “I wanted to go through the teacher training as a part of my ongoing investment in my personal health and well-being, but also, because yoga has had such a tremendous impact on my life in both physical and mental ways,” said Grice. “I want to be able to share this with others who may have had similar injuries and obstacles in their lives.”

For their Yoga Alliance Certification, Warner and Grice need to conduct community service through teaching yoga classes. Ideas of teaching yoga at Palio have been flying around. These classes would be geared towards metabolism, stress relief, life improvement, digestion and anti-aging poses. Excitement is surely stirring and these women are receiving lots of positive feedback about potentially doing yoga classes here. All we can say for now is we want yoga!

Here at Palio, health and wellness runs through everything we do – in the office and out. And our employees are involved from every angle! From running to yoga, and tennis to ironman – you name it, we’ve got folks who do it. Because health is such a big part of our lives and work, our Because We Can health initiatives series is designed to highlight the passions, commitments, accomplishments and goals of a few of the members of our team.

Palio is an advertising agency revolutionizing pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing to create experiences that will Never Be Forgotten.