The personal benefits of your NESHCo membership

By Lynn S. Robbins

I never considered myself to be a princess. Not once. But, like most other American girls, I grew up on Disney, and, well - you know, princesses rule in Disney's world. So, when the most recent take on "Cinderella" came out, I rolled my eyes and thought, "I'm getting too old for this," but, as it turned out - this was NOT true.

In late 2014, the health care organization I worked for eliminated two leadership roles - one of them was mine. I was laid off with no notice and was devastated. However, there's no time for self-pity when you've got bills to pay, so I did what most marketing communications professionals do - I reached out and networked. Where did I turn first? My NESHCo colleagues!

What does all of this have to do with "Cinderella"? Well, she, too, had a bit of bad luck to deal with and had to pull herself up and address the challenges she faced. To do this, Cinderella had two goals:

1. To have courage.
2. To be kind.

You can't beat those two goals, but I would have to add one more to the mix: To reach out.

Experiencing a layoff was awful, but I had NESHCo to reach out to - its members, resources and professional development opportunities. I got leads, projects, part-time employment, and eventually a full-time position because of networking with NESHCo members.

So, have courage. Be kind. Reach out to your NESHCo colleagues. Then, pay it forward. 

Lynn Robbins is a NESHCo member, a New Hampshire state director and now the Director of Marketing at Parkland Medical Center in Derry, New Hampshire. Reach out to Lynn here. 

Meet Our Speakers: Shannon Curran

Between now and the Boston conference, we'll give you a look at some of the planned presentations and the presenters themselves.

On Day Two of the conference, Shannon Curran, senior vice president, group account director, SPM Marketing & Communications, and Tricia Denham, director of communications and marketing at Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC), will offer a morning breakout session entitled "Leveraging the web to drive engagement" Here, Shannon talks about the presentation.

1.      What gave you the idea for this presentation?

So many of our clients are facing the same problems that EMMC has been facing - needing to do more and prove more, with less money. I thought that EMMC's success story was a perfect one to share because hopefully it will inspire others to think outside of the box, and figure out ways to engage with their target audiences in ways they hadn't thought of before.

2. What's your expertise in this field?

I am a senior vice president, group account director at SPM Marketing & Communications. In this role, I work with hospitals and health systems across the country including Brigham & Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, University of Maryland Medical System, Inspira Health Network, and EMMC to develop, maintain and market their brands across a variety of different channels.

3. What new knowledge or tips do you want people to walk away with after the presentation?

With all of the mergers and acquisitions happening across the United States, building and maintaining your brand is more important than ever before. And it's a dog fight. There's a lot of noise in the markets, and the pie is only so big. Hospitals are going to need to think outside the box and connect with prospective patients BEFORE they need health care services. This is not a new idea in itself, but brainstorming creative ways to do so will be essential. The goal of this presentation is to inspire health care marketers to think differently about how to engage the public.

Presented by HootSuite

Wednesday, May 20

2-4 pm
Seaport Hotel, Boston 

*This session may be an add on to the full conference and one-day conference packages. If you are not able to attend the conference, this session may be a stand-alone presentation as well.
  

Thursday, April 30

9-10 am

Presented by Kim O'Leary, communications strategist, The University of Vermont Medical Center & 

Michael O'Farrell, director of marketing & communications at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital

When hospitals affiliate, how do you create consistent, culturally-sensitive messaging across multiple organizations with different needs and methods of communicating, especially when you're only just getting to know your affiliate marketing communications colleagues?  Join speakers Mike O'Farrell and Kim O'Leary as they share lessons learned during their respective organizations' affiliation processes.  They'll discuss how to establish strong, trusting relationships with new colleagues; delivering effective system-wide internal communications; and navigating tricky rebranding situations.