Public relations officer interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Public relations officer interview - Essay Example The Richmond Veterans Hospital offers services to over two hundred thousand veterans who dwell in the central and southern parts of North Carolina. Their services are offered in their outpatient clinics that have been located in Emporia, Charlottesville and Fredericksburg. The Hunter Holmes Hospital was actually the first hospital in VA to execute heart transplants on its patients. The Richmond VAMC is also the hospital that offers patients suffering from heart failure with medical care throughout the country. In addition, the hospital offers a variety of services to its patients that range from comprehensive outpatient care to the multifaceted inpatient services like heart, kidney, liver and lung transplantations. The medical facility also provides medical care to patients suffering from traumatic spinal and brain injuries. The hospital has about 415 operating beds and an acute care department, mental health services and nursing home. In addition, a new polytrauma transitional rehab ilitation center was recently opened to assist injured veterans adjust to living normal lives (US Department of Veteran Affairs, 2012). Ms. Edwards, the public relations officer at the Richmond Veterans Hospital plays various roles on behalf of the facility. ... situation with the police officers, determine who and how the family of the deceased should be informed and deliver a statement to the hospital staff and the press. In another instance, an employee who was engaged to another employee fell out with his fiancee and shot his fiancees cousin as they arrived at the facility (the cousin was a veteran who had been receiving cancer treatment and was killed). Ms. Edwards immediately communicated with the police, offered statements to the press and communicated the situation to the hospital’s employees. On the same day that I interviewed Ms. Edwards, the assailant was in court pleading not guilty though she ensured that the employees who had been affected by the incident were okay. The Richmond VAMC hosted the wheelchair Olympics this summer with Ms. Edwards being put in charge of coordinating the event which took a great deal of her time and energy. Prior to the event she resided at the downtown Marriot hotel which was the center for o perations for this event. She was charged with the tasks of directing the events, the staff members, various organizers, participants, medical staff and everyone else who was a part of the event. The public relations officer for the Richmond VAMC was also responsible for arranging the itinerary and making clearances with the hospital’s director when public figures like Michelle Obama visited the facility. According to the WWBT news, the first lady, Michelle Obama’s visit to the Richmond region came less than three months after the president had visited. It was a high profile visit to the state which was considered an important swing state during the coming elections. The news channel reported that at around lunchtime on Wednesday, the country’s first lady would attend a high profile