SUCCESS STORIES
Largest nurse union election in recent PA history
In the Summer of 2025, the Hailstone team ran an aggressive public relations campaign supporting 900 nurses who were forming their union at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. The strategy focused on foregrounding the voices of nurses and the community members and elected officials supporting them.
Despite a forceful anti-union campaign, we were able to completely control the public discourse. Throughout the campaign we garnered saturation-level, highly positive coverage of the nurses’ efforts to unionize in every local newspaper, TV and radio station.
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital nurses call for union election
Tribune-Review | May 29, 2025
Magee nurses, government leaders urge UPMC to allow hospital to unionize
NPR WESA FM | June 13, 2025
The result? The nurses voted by a strong majority to unionize in the largest nurse union election in recent Pennsylvania history. This was the first time ever that nurses had successfully organized within the state's largest health system. Organizers said that consistently seeing positive press stories about nurses and their community supporters was absolutely critical to achieving their victory.
‘It’s really empowering’: Unionized Magee-Women’s Hospital nurses lead Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade
NBC 11 WPXI | Sept. 1, 2025
Passing Prop 50—California’s congressional redistricting
In the fall of 2025, Hailstone ran an extensive eight-week media and ad campaign for United Domestic Workers (UDW/AFSCME 3930)—one of the largest unions in California—in support of Proposition 50. UDW represents over 220,000 family childcare and in-home supportive service workers who provide care to families who rely on Medicaid and SNAP. After Republicans in Congress voted for draconian cuts to these vital programs, UDW was strongly motivated to support the measure in order to hold members of Congress accountable for their actions.
Hailstone Communications placed op-eds in impactful outlets, earned widespread national, state, and local press, and positioned UDW as one of the key union leaders in this election. Hailstone also placed striking visual and audio ads in targeted publications to reach Spanish, Vietnamese, and Korean language-speaking voters.
The result? UDW reached hundreds of thousands of voters, helping Prop 50 to pass by an strong majority.
Labor Unions Propel Prop 50 to Decisive Win
State Affairs | November 6, 2025
Newsom in San Diego for Prop 50 Rally
FOX 5-San Diego | November 3, 2025
Người Việt | October 31, 2025
Community Voices: Proposition 50 holds Rep. Valadao accountable for cutting a vital care program
Bakersfield Californian | October 4, 2025
Asian American, progressive activists rally for California's Prop 50 in Little Saigon
LA Times | October 3, 2025
First union contract for healthcare professionals
In 2024, Hailstone ran all the communications for a union election involving 300 medical professionals at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. Despite an intense anti-union campaign by the employer, which is the largest hospital corporation in the country, professionals voted by a landslide to unionize.
Hailstone then led the PR and communications campaign to help workers win a first union contract. The employer was extremely resistant to agreeing to a contract, so our team rolled out strategies to build maximum public support. Our messaging juxtaposed “skyrocketing” CEO compensation with the struggles of frontline healthcare professionals, and the campaign included:
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An avalanche of positive press coverage and booking workers on national podcasts.
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A website that allowed supporters to email the CEO, resulting in hundreds of messages sent.
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Community patch-through calls that delivered hundreds of calls to the CEO.
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Op-eds featuring the personal narratives of frontline workers.
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Extensive social media content and ads.
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Mobile billboards that circled the hospitals and main streets of Las Vegas.
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Manufacturing a 20-foot tall inflatable rocket which was posted outside the hospital during an informational picket to maximally amp up public attention.
The result? The employer agreed to a groundbreaking first contract with raises as high as 36%, along with other major improvements.
Sunrise Hospital healthcare workers secure first-ever union contract
ABC 13 KTNV | Oct. 7, 2025
Promoting Stanford clean energy storage study
Stanford engineering professor Mark Z. Jacobson is one of the leading thinkers and advocates for the transition to a clean energy economy. Hailstone promoted his recent study showing that the transition can be both cheap and reliable through a combination of battery and hydrogen storage.
The result? Our PR campaign generated widespread attention for the study, including:
Mark Ruffalo shared our press release on X, creating tremendous buzz.
And industry media took notice:
Battery storage plus hydrogen can enable a reliable, cheap clean energy transition
PV Magazine | Feb. 7, 2024
Stanford Study Unveils Synergies of Battery Storage & Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Global Renewable Grids
Battery Technology | Feb. 14, 2024
Generating massive avalanche of international press coverage for Stop Asian Hate rally
In the summer of 2023, the Hailstone team was enlisted to bring public attention to a brutal hate crime against a 75-year-old Filipino man in Las Vegas. The local community coalition was struggling to raise awareness about the issue and the District Attorney had let the perpetrator off with only a misdemeanor, not hate crime charges. We enthusiastically answered the call, garnering dozens of local, national and international news stories, and helping to ensure justice for the victim. Our strategy included:
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Connecting the individual attack to the larger national trend in rising hate crimes, in order to maximize coverage.
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Extensive outreach to local, national and international press, including the Asian American Pacific Islander media.
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Generating frequent, powerful social media content to amplify the press coverage.
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Prepping leaders of the Filipino community with highly effective media training and talking points.
Our work generated scores of news stories with a potential audience of over 300 million people, equivalent to spending more than $700,000 in advertising dollars. Much of the press coverage ran as the top stories for newspapers and TV, day after day. Here's a small selection of media we got placed:
Asian community rallies after attack on Filipino-American resident
Las Vegas Review-Journal | June 29, 2023
Stop Asian Hate Rally takes over Clark County Regional Justice Center
NBC 3 | June 29, 2023
Viral attack on Las Vegas Filipino American prompts 'Stop Asian Hate' rally
ABC 13 | June 29, 2023
‘Loud and proud:’ Asian community stands against hate crime in Las Vegas
The Nevada Independent | June 29, 2023
Filipino American leaders to hold rally for Las Vegas senior attacked in his home
Yahoo News | June 27, 2023
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Securing groundbreaking investment in psychiatric nursing
Everyone knows that there is a growing mental healthcare crisis in our country. In Western Pennsylvania, the largest behavioral healthcare facility was struggling with closed beds, understaffing and turnover of nurses, reducing access for patients who desperately needed care. Hailstone was brought on to lead the public relations and engagement strategy aimed at securing much more investment in frontline nurses to tackle these problems.
The Hailstone team created and carried out a comprehensive strategy, which included:
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Building a coalition of psychiatrists, leading mental health researchers, elected officials and community members.
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Aligning our campaign's messaging with the larger trend of the mental health crisis.
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Training frontline nurses and community members to be effective spokespeople.
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Helping nurses tell their stories through multiple opinion pieces published in the major daily newspaper.
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Launching a robust advertising campaign to complement the press coverage.
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Repeatedly garnering massive positive press coverage in almost all local news outlets, including the major daily newspapers, the local NPR and AM radio stations and all TV stations.
UPMC Western Psych nurses warn staffing shortages degrading patient care
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Sept. 23, 2024
Western Psych nurses rally against staffing crisis, bed closures at psychiatric care facility
NPR WESA FM | Sept. 24, 2024
Nurses say Western Psych is in crisis as they push for a new contract with UPMC
City Paper | Sept. 24, 2024
UPMC nurses reach 'historic' deal: 6 things to know
Becker’s Hospital Review | Oct. 28, 2024
UPMC Western Psych nurses ratify contract, averting threatened strike
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Oct. 28, 2024
Home care workers have some of the most important jobs in the world, supporting seniors and people with disabilities. Despite their essential work, the 13,000 home care workers in Nevada have been shamefully underpaid for over a decade, with average wages stagnating at around $11 an hour.
The Hailstone team led the communications strategy to increase their wages, which included a torrent of news stories, op-eds, social media and grassroots mobilizations.
The result? In the summer of 2023, we helped achieve a historic victory by passing a $16 minimum wage for workers and a 42% funding increase for the industry through the state legislature. These changes will not only be life changing for home care workers, but will also recruit and retain the workforce to provide quality care to clients. Check out this story which we garnered in Nevada's largest newspaper:
Winning historic $16 minimum wage and funding increase for Nevada home care
Home care workers get $16 minimum wage increase in new Nevada budget
Las Vegas Review-Journal | June 12, 2023