A Lion in the House

The A Lion in the House community engagement campaign spearheaded by ITVS built an impressive coalition of partners — including some of the nation’s leading public health organizations, created a remarkable array of resources, and produced a nationwide series of events and projects that achieved widespread visibility and impact for the campaign.

From the U.S. Capitol to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, from Native American reservations in New Mexico to Latino communities in Southern California, and from nationally syndicated radio programming on NPR to the historic primetime common carriage broadcast on PBS, A Lion in the House touched millions of people across the country, including tens of thousands of health care and social service professionals whose ongoing work carries forward the campaign’s objectives.

As part of the campaign, A Lion in the House was featured at dozens of professional conferences around the country (medical, nursing, social work, etc.), more than 150 community events in almost every state, and brought the core messages of film — greater needs for survivorship care, palliative care, and more focus on disparities in access to care — directly to Capitol Hill with a landmark screening and luncheon event, including a resolution on the House floor to honor the PBS broadcast.

Hundreds of thousands of resources were distributed, including more than 1,000 DVD video modules used by nurses, doctors, and social workers working in clinical and professional settings to educate, advance discussion, and stimulate problem solving. The campaign’s commitment to professional education even provided for continuing education credits for nurses and social workers that committed to watching the broadcast and participated in follow-up activities.

A Lion in the House made major contributions to changing the debate around sensitive issues like pediatric palliative and end-of-life care, and brought much-needed attention and updated perspectives to policymakers and caregivers around the nation.