Ever since I was little I have wanted to work in an office. I used to dress up and follow my Mum around with a notepad and pen, scribbling nonsense and busily filing papers into folders. Now as I begin my internship with the Department of Health, office life is finally a reality – and it certainly has its pros and cons.
Last Tuesday I started in the Communications Department at the South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS). SMHS oversees hospital sites in the south metro area, including Fremantle Hospital, Royal Perth Hospital, Rockingham General Hospital, Armadale Health Service and Bentley Hospital. The most pressing PR issues facing SMHS currently is the closure of the Fremantle Hospital emergency department and the opening of Fiona Stanley’s emergency department on the 3rd of February. Other projects involve decommissioning the current SMHS website and moving it under the Department of Health’s site.
Within my first two weeks at SMHS I have dipped my toes into almost every PR activity in the book. I updated two external stakeholder databases for an information mail out, interviewed and wrote a short good news story for the internal eNewsletter, taken photos for external corporate publications, wrote a media release for an upcoming event and began the preliminary stages of writing content for the new SMHS website. In between I have sent copious amounts of emails and edited all sorts of texts as per WA Health style guide.
The versatility of PR is what attracted me to it in the first place but it also means style and practice changes across all the industries. However, I have been pleased to discover theory learnt at uni has given me a strong foundation of knowledge. I can already feel my writing skills improving and over the next three weeks I hope to gain more confidence in the workplace.
Although working in an office at the Government Department of Health isn’t as ‘cool’ as working with animals or at an avant-garde fashion house, it certainly has its perks. A lot of the work done by SMHS is aimed to inform people of the health services available to them – it is very practical and important stuff, and the type of thing I have always wanted to be involved with from day one. Everyone in the department works together to send succinct and consistent messages – after all, it could mean the difference between someone showing up to a closed Fremantle Emergency Department or the opened Fiona Stanley one.
Until next time,
Kelsey
Bentley Internal
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