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Longtime Heimlich Institute publicist Melinda Zemper wrote me that she's personal friends with Jason Schmidt, who's making a documentary about my father -- she helped fund Schmidt's project and sent out a press release to help with his fundraising.

In my previous item, I explained my principal reason for refusing to be interviewed for The Maneuver: The Inside Story of Dr. Henry Heimlich. 

That's the title of a documentary about my father that freelance video editor Jason Schmidt is trying to get off the ground via Media Schmedia LLC, his New York City-based company.

When Schmidt first approached me in April, I bailed pronto after he e-mailed me that he had no problem accepting funding from my father or his "sympathetic associates." He even invited me to steer donors to him:

I imagine you're dancing around the question of whether or not this project is funded by your father or sympathetic associates? If that's the case, you can be assured that no such money has been offered or accepted. Perhaps that will change...and likewise, if you know of any deep-pocketed patrons/benefactors interested in supporting a great project, I'm all ears.

Clearly he's not bothered with pesky concerns like maintaining the appearance of objectivity. 

The part he wrote about "no such money has been offered or accepted. Perhaps that will change"?

In fact, that changed just a few months later, via the project's Kickstarter campaign, which raised about $32,000.

Via Kickstarter, here's one of the backers:


As Sidebar readers know, Melinda Zemper is longtime press agent for my father's nonprofit Heimlich Institute.

Here's a screen shot from Documentary film on Dr. Henry Heimlich in works, Zemper's June 4, 2014 press release hyping the project:


In other words, the Heimlich Institute's press agent funded Schmidt's project via Kickstarter and issued a press release hyping the project in which she steered potential donors to the project.

On June 28, I sent Zemper these questions:

1) I presume you sent out the press release on behalf of your clients, the Heimlich Institute and Deaconess Associations, and that Media Schmedia is not your client, correct?

2) How much money did you contribute via Kickstarter?

3) Do you have any other financial interest in the film?

4) Is your funding of the film your own money or are you being reimbursed by your clients?

Here's her complete reply, dated June 30.

Hello Mr. Heimlich,

You are making wrong assumptions in your email below.

1) I submitted a press release supporting MediaSchmedia [sic] based on a personal friendship I have with Jason Schmidt, not on behalf of any client.

2) How much money I contribute to a Kickstarter campaign is none of your business and not of interest to media you copied on this email. It was a personal donation that is rather small in comparison to his actual needs, but the donation was intended to encourage Schmidt’s first foray into creating independent films. Jason Schmidt is an ethical, competent journalist who has won a variety of awards for his film work. Please view his website: www.jasonschmidt.com

3) No, I do not.

4) The donation is personal; there are no clients involved in my donation to Schmidt’s documentary film on Dr. Heimlich. The film is an independent journalistic endeavor and not underwritten by the Heimlichs. That is why Schmidt implemented a Kickstarter campaign. Oak Tree Communications helped Dr. Heimlich obtain media coverage for his memoir. That project has since been completed and I am not working with Dr. Heimlich at this time.

Melinda Zemper
Oak Tree Communications

Some things I'd like to know.

Does "an ethical, competent journalist" making an ostensibly objective documentary about Henry Heimlich accept funding from Henry Heimlich's publicist?

Does "an ethical, competent journalist" allow Henry Heimlich's publicist to issue a press release hyping the film and encouraging donations?

Wouldn't "an ethical, competent journalist" be aware that these conflicts make him appear to be compromised?

And exactly how did Schmidt and Zemper get to be pals? 

Here's another of my father's "sympathetic associates" from whom Schmidt accepted funding via Kickstarter:


My sister Janet has been one of my father's most ardent defenders in the media, she edited his recently-published memoir, and she appears in this fund raising trailer for Schmidt's documentary. 



Part III: A Problematic "Heimlich Artwork" Kickstarter Premium and My Father's Relationships with Narco Docs

Part IV: Other problems with the film's Kickstarter fund raising campaign

Part V: Jason Schmidt refuses to answer my questions about false and/or problematic claims in his project's Kickstarter funding campaign 

Melinda Zemper, Oak Tree Communications LLC, West Chester, OH (source)

After I tagged press agent Melinda Zemper for publishing false claims in a March 5 article, the Cincinnati Enquirer has deleted it.

For background, see my item last week, Hype tripe: Cincinnati press agent claims "Heimlich Heroes" first aid training program "expanding nationwide" via partnerships with the YMCA and two other national nonprofits -- the program's manager says "NOT." 

Here's a screenshot from Zemper's article that was published by the Enquirer's Community News Share section:

If you click the link to her article now, here's what you'll see:

 
I asked Enquirer Media Communities Editor Nancy Daly what happened.

source

A couple days ago she e-mailed me:

Once we learned there was some controversy we deleted it. Share is not a place for that.

Besides Zemper's false claim that three national nonprofits -- the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the American Heritage Girls -- were partnering with the "Heimlich Heroes" program being taught in local schools, via my February 26 item, here's the other concern I brought to the Enquirer's attention:

source

Via a March 5 article bylined by "PR professional" Melinda Zemper published in the Cincinnati Enquirer's "Community News" (yellow highlighting added):


A few days ago I e-mailed media reps at the American Heritage Girls, the YMCA, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and asked for details about the partnerships.

I also e-mailed some questions to "Heimlich Heroes" program manager Terri Huntington.

source

Via an e-mail I received yesterday from Ms. Huntington:

I want you to know that the nature of the relationship with the organizations you mention was overstated...Heimlich Heroes has NOT formed a formal partnership with any of the organizations listed.

Also see my February 26, item, "Heimlich Heroes" program teaches Ohio students a choking rescue treatment NOT recommended by Heart Association and Red Cross -- I've asked the OH and Hamilton County Health Departments to review the program.

As I reported last week, a recent Heimlich Institute press release opened the door to one of the nastiest skeletons in my father's closet, his relationships with a string of doctors who lost their licenses for extreme over-prescribing of narcotics, two of whom did jail stretches.

Melinda Zemper (source)

Now Melinda Zemper of Oak Tree Communications (who does PR for the Heimlich Institute), my father, and Patrick Ward of Deaconess Associations (the parent company of the Heimlich Institute), have again handed me an opportunity to report about another of my father's most closely-held secrets.

A couple year ago, my father and Ward donated my father's archives to the University of Cincinnati Medical School library:


A couple weeks ago, Ms. Zemper issued another Heimlich Institute press release, this one promoting "Heimlich Heroes," a first aid training program being conducted in Ohio schools by the Heimlich Institute.

What interested me was the accompanying photo:


It's the white lab coat.

It's been over 35 years since my father had a reason to wear one in a professional capacity.

Via Radar magazine:

(In the mid-1970s, Dr.) Heimlich's career as a surgeon was drawing to an ignominious close. There had been at least one incident when he passed out at the operating table, leaving another surgeon to finish the job. Heimlich was having trouble obtaining malpractice insurance, Peter (Heimlich) claims, and his personality hadn't endeared him to the rest of the Jewish Hospital staff. In 1976 he left the hospital.

Two corrections, courtesy of documents from the Heimlich Archives.

First, the year my father left Jewish Hospital was 1977.

Second, he didn't just leave. He got canned.




57 years old at the time, my father quit practicing surgery, never again maintained a medical practice, and spent the rest of his career as a celebrity doctor.




Updated 3/12/13: The Cincinnati Post got it wrong: