Public Health Messaging Made Easy: A Partnership with the American Lung Association

Helping families breathe easier—one message at a time

At Lantern, we believe that the right information, delivered at the right moment, can make a real difference for families. That’s exactly what our Social Impact Partnerships are designed to do—connect trusted public health organizations with parents and caregivers through a channel they already use every day: text messaging.

One of our standout partners in this work is the American Lung Association (ALA).

Starting Local, Growing Impact

Our partnership with the American Lung Association began in Colorado, where we worked together to reach families with critical information about radon exposure and secondhand smoke.

What started as a local collaboration quickly demonstrated its potential.

By meeting families where they are—on their phones—we were able to deliver simple, actionable health messages that cut through the noise and prompted real engagement. Today, that success has helped expand the partnership beyond Colorado to include American Lung Association teams in Nebraska and Iowa, bringing these important messages to even more families across the Midwest.

In 2025, we also added a new way for Social Impact Partners to reach families with their resources. In addition to our text message campaigns, we now offer targeted email campaigns based on:

Geography
Children’s ages
Household income

Email campaigns offer strong engagement as well, with average open rates of 10–15% and click-through rates of 1–2%—a simple way to get resources in front of the right families.

Why This Partnership Works

Lantern’s Social Impact Partnerships are built on a simple idea: trusted organizations already have high-quality resources—our job is to help get them into the hands of families who need them most.

Through our SMS platform:

98% of messages are opened
95% are read within minutes
Families receive timely, relevant information tied to their child’s age and needs

That combination of trust, timing, and accessibility is what makes these campaigns so effective.

Turning Awareness into Action

Together with the American Lung Association, we’ve focused on two key areas that directly impact child and family health:

Radon Awareness

Radon is a leading cause of lung cancer and often goes undetected in homes. Many families simply don’t know it’s a risk—or how easy it is to test for it.

Through Lantern campaigns, families learned:

Radon is a dangerous gas that can build up indoors
Testing is simple and affordable (often free)
Free or low-cost resources may be available locally for radon mitigation

The results speak for themselves:

2025 campaign: 21.9% view rate and over 1,300 clicks
2026 campaign: 19,270 views and 1,658 clicks

These engagement rates are strong for public health messaging—and more importantly, they represent families taking steps to protect their homes.

Smoke-Free Environments

We also partnered with the American Lung Association to educate caregivers about the risks of secondhand smoke and vaping exposure for children.

Messages focused on simple, actionable steps like:

Stepping outside to smoke or vape
Creating a smoke-free home environment
Understanding the health risks for children

These campaigns reached a large audience and drove meaningful engagement:

350,000 families reached
65,096 views and 8,121 clicks

That level of response shows just how powerful clear, practical guidance can be when delivered directly to caregivers.

Meeting Families Where They Are

What makes this partnership especially powerful is how it removes barriers.

Families don’t need to search for information, navigate complex websites, or schedule time to learn. Instead, they receive short, easy-to-understand messages that point them to trusted resources—right when they need them.

And because text messaging is nearly universal, this approach helps ensure equitable access to health information across income levels and communities.