Sometimes a simple approach is the most effective.
The new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center opens its doors in November 2010, to replace the existing facility in Burlingame, California, and the hospital is using social media to communicate during construction. In this interview, Erin Macartney of the Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs Department, shares how the hospital is reaching out to the community socially throughout the building process.
How did the idea for a new hospital online newsroom using social media come about?
The hospital building project is well under way and we were looking for a way to connect directly with our patients – to let them know about the progress of their new hospital and to give them a peek into the project itself at every step of the way. We didn’t want to wait until completion of the project to “open the doors” to the community. We wanted to build upon the excitement, momentum and energy during the building project and share this with the community in a more personal way. We created the online newsroom as a “go to” resource for information and sharing, and incorporated as much social media as possible because it allows us to connect with people in real time – and it’s also how many in the community like to receive their information nowadays.
How did you go about creating the online newsroom? And was this done in-house?
Yes, the entire project was done in-house and at no cost – other than the time we have put into it and the Word Press account. Once we had the idea…we assembled a small group of communication staffers from Mills-Peninsula and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and basically just rolled up our sleeves and started brainstorming and writing. We knew we had a lot of material to share and were looking at new ways to get the messages and information out to the community. We wanted to incorporate as much social media into the new newsroom as possible, to make it more interesting, helpful and personal. We created an initial editorial calendar, punch list of news items to start with, uploaded photos, grabbed the Flip video camera and started working towards going “live” as soon as possible!
What can people find on the site?
This newsroom lets people explore the latest news and updates on the new hospital building progress at their convenience. We invite them to check back often for project news and status updates, technology highlights, design images, photos, video and more. We also invite people to join us on our other social media sites at Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to continue the conversation. People can easily subscribe to the news blog via RSS feed button.
Which social media tools did you use?
We tried keep it simple and straightforward, using some basic tools that people are familiar with, want and are easy for them to use. We also wanted it to be fresh, lively, welcoming and visual. So, in this newsroom you’ll find a streaming webcam of the construction site, live Twitter feed, blog articles with comments enabled, invitations to join the conversation on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, You Tube and more. We also ask people to let us know that if what they’re looking for isn’t there, to let us know and we will do our best to add it – or get the information to them.
Any suggestions for others who are interested in creating online newsrooms and using social media for their hospital building projects?
Give it a try! This was our first effort too, and we felt the time and reasoning were right to reach out to the community using new social media tools, in addition to our other outreach programs. We are patients too, and we know what if feels like to want to know what is going on at the medical center where you or your family member receives treatment. Although this newsroom is mainly sharing news about the building of the new community hospital…we wanted it to be more than that. It’s a “live” connection to the community – so people can participate in an exciting neighborhood hospital building project and when the new hospital opens its doors, feel like partners in the building process – and in their own health care.
For more information, visit the new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center newsroom at www.millspeninsulanews.org. You can also follow Mills-Peninsula on Twitter and Facebook.
Erin Macartney is public affairs specialist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, an affiliate of the Sutter Health’s Peninsula Coastal Region, that also includes Mills-Peninsula Health Services. You can follow her on Twitter at @emacartney.
