NF Memorial Medical Center - Public Relations
Summer 2016
Through the Vincentian Scholarship program at NU, I had the opportunity to be placed in a public relations internship at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. Once a week for six hours I worked in the PR department and learned the ins and outs of the PR and Marketing world. This internship gave me real life experience in the Communications field and ultimately helped me decide what career path I would follow- but not in the way I thought.
At the start of my internship, I was in the AEP program looking into Communications as a major. I was interested in public relations more than any other aspect of Communication Studies, and was able to work with the public relations director of NFMMC for an entire year. Witnessing my boss’s responsibilities firsthand was eye opening. He was more than just the name behind the emails; he had a laundry list of responsibilities. Writing weekly press releases, attending meetings, updating the website and social media outlets, taking pictures at events, confirming guests lists, ordering shipments online, forming partnerships with other organizations, and advertising the hospital were just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. Any task that promoted and advertised the hospital was his to attend to.
The first week on the job, my boss gave me a project that he didn’t have time to implement himself. The idea was to create a monthly newsletter to keep employees and patients updated with past and upcoming events at the hospital. “We could call it ‘Keeping Up with NFMMC,’ like ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians,’” I said jokingly; but it soon became the title of the newsletter published every month since. We spread the word by emailing staff to contribute stories for the newsletter. Within the course of a week my email was overflowing with stories of new hires, promoted employees, awareness events, NFMMC partnerships, and conferences. After sifting and editing the articles, I fit seven to eight of the most newsworthy stories with pictures on the front and back of a page. After my boss edited the newsletter, I printed out around 300 copies and distributed them all throughout the offices, waiting rooms, and bulletin boards of the hospital.
Most articles in the newsletter were sent to us, but sometimes I was able to write some myself. When the OB/GYN center of the hospital was renovated I had the chance to take pictures and interview two of the nurses. One of the benefits of writing your own article is the opportunity to report behind-the-scenes of an organization. For me, this involved witnessing a pregnant woman get a sonogram for a video another intern was creating. Another article I wrote for the newsletter revolved around Halloween at the Nursing Home, in which I took pictures of the workers dressed in costumes. It was hysterical to see the nurses’ enthusiasm to show off their costumes for the newsletter. Writing your own article with original pictures is, in my opinion, one of the best parts of public relations. Few other professions have the unique opportunity to cover different events and publish original articles.
As opposed to a broadcaster or videographer, there isn’t large equipment devices that a public relations specialist must use. Instead, I mastered different computer programs online such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Publisher, the NFMMC website, and online survey makers. Working in the office, I also used the printer and copier machine quite often.
My boss explained that public relations is a multi-faceted field in which one person has to juggle many different tasks. Between editing and writing the newsletter, I was nothing short of busy in the office. Another job of mine was creating flyers for different events happening at NFMMC, and after they were approved I distributed them around the hospital as I did the newsletters. I also advertised events at the hospital by updating the website and social media sites including Twitter and Facebook. My least favorite task of the internship was writing press releases. It was tedious work, and I felt my creativity was stifled due to the precise structure of a press release outline. One of the drawbacks of working in public relations is the sheer amount of tasks that rests on one person. It’s not a glamourous field where you meet and interview celebrities all the time. It is an office job, which many times consists of an 8am-5pm shift of answering phone calls, checking emails, and writing press releases.
One task in particular stands out to me, for I would not necessarily think of it as part of the duties in the Communications field. I was asked to assist one of the public relations specialists in standing outside the cafeteria and collect pledges for the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign. Asking those in passing to sign a pledge was a bit out of my comfort zone, but somehow the two of us managed to get 100 signatures in an hour. When I said the purpose of the campaign was to stop using the word “retarded” as a euphemism for people with disabilities, I got responses from “That word is still used?” to “I have a nephew with disabilities who calls himself that.” It was an eye opening experience.
My biggest project of the year started with a request from none other than the Director of Continuing Education at Niagara University. He asked me to create an outline for a summer course geared toward the Niagara Falls community. It was a Medical Billing and Coding class at Niagara, and I was to create an extensive advertisement plan to recruit people to take the class. I had to problem solve and think of the best way to reach the targeted audience: low-income residents of Niagara Falls looking for a high-demand job in the healthcare field. After writing an outline, I assisted in implementing my advertisement plan with the Community Outreach Coordinator at NFMMC. Together we created and distributed flyers, posted on social media, and wrote press releases to spread the word throughout Niagara Falls. It was interesting to learn how certain audiences are targeted through different advertising techniques. Posting flyers in churches and soup kitchens was most effective to reach adults, while social media postings focused on the youth. It was a neat experience to be able to create my own advertising plan and implement it into the community.
Internships are a valuable asset to the college experience because it’s designed to give a preview of your potential career. Or it might very well be the key to discovering the wrong career path, which may arguably be more valuable. I learned a lot during my public relations internship at NFMMC, but the most important thing I realized was that I did not want to pursue this as a career. In fact, after the internship, I dropped my Communications major to a CMS minor. It’s not that my experience was unhelpful, for I definitely improved my skills as a writer and a communicator. Writing articles, taking pictures, and making flyers; however, will always just be hobbies for me. As much as I enjoy it, I believe my true passions lie elsewhere. I am grateful that the PR internship led me to this decision. If not for the hands-on experience, I might have graduated with a degree I was not meant to have.
If someone enjoys planning meetings, scheduling events, advertising, writing, taking pictures, and handling other jobs such as there; I would highly recommend this field. If you are considering a PR internship, my advice would be to go in with an open mind. Be open to new experiences and fully expect to tackle jobs outside your comfort zone. Public relations might not be as cut-throat as Journalism, but there are definitely deadlines that make this job more fast-paced than others. Overall, I do believe public relations is a fascinating job in which you meet interesting people and develop important communication skills that you will use outside the workplace.