betsy (dot) yates (at) gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/betsyyates
Fourteen years of communications experience. Measured success with print and electronic news media, community relations, crisis management, media research, tracking, archiving and analysis.
May 2010 - Present, Social Media Specialist (contract)
St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System
Savannah, Georgia
www.sjchs.org
Facebook.com/StJosephsCandler
Facebook.com/TelfairHospital
Twitter.com/chooseSJC
Gplus.to/StJosephsCandler
2003 – 2008, Public Relations Manager, Spokesperson
St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System
Savannah, Georgia
www.sjchs.org
Designed and implemented public relations strategies for a two-hospital, 640-bed, 3,500-employee health system focusing on core messaging, visibility, reinforcement, positioning, benefit communications and consumer awareness of major service lines.
Coordinated interviews, wrote official statements and other information for reporters at three local television stations and several daily, weekly and monthly publications
Supervised Public Relations projects and staff involving the research, writing, editing and production of three monthly health system publications for employees, physicians and community
Managed consumer electronic newsletter that provides topical health news to the health system’s customers, delegate responsibilities among three account managers representing top health system service lines
Collaborated with Government Relations to leverage PR to raise awareness to priority issues to the health system
Directed outside advertising agency in the development of the creative concepts for publications; liaison between Marketing and Purchasing Departments
Organized press conferences, collaborated with state, city and county officials, prepared talking points for executives and government officials
Served on committees for local organizations to build community relationships.
Collaborated with hospital administrators to execute public relations planning and crisis management
Wrote and distributed press releases on new medical technologies to help boost patient volumes and community outreach initiatives to strengthen community’s confidence in the justification of the health system’s tax exemption
Generated budget and worked with vendors for an experimental media logging and tracking systems to capture and analyze electronic and print news coverage
Professional, Corporate and Community Involvement
Co-champion, Communications Team, Savannah’s Poverty Reduction Initiative
Chatham County Health Safety Net Council – Step Up Health Action Team
Angels of Mercy Community Service Volunteer Corps
St. Joseph’s/Candler’s Hispanic Healthcare Committee
Other Experience
2001 – 2003, Freelance Junior Copywriter, Production Coordinator
BFG Communications, Bluffton, SC
www.bfgcom.com
Enforced copy, artwork and production deadlines
Counseled clients on purchasing decisions for large-scale production projects
Conducted research for promotions and sweepstakes programs
Managed Web Site content for interactive marketing programs
Researched, wrote and edited point-of-sale copy for national clients
2000 – 2001, Town Hall Reporter
Island Packet, Bluffton, SC (McClatchy Newspapers)
www.islandpacket.com
1998 – 2000, Education Reporter
Marietta Times, Marietta, Ohio
www.mariettatimes.com
Education
1994 – 1998, Bachelor of Arts, Journalism, minors in Psychology and Leadership
Marietta College, www.marietta.edu
1998, Journalism Applied Learning
Education Reporter, The Marietta A.M. (Marietta, OH), General Assignment Reporter, The Advocate (Newark, OH), Editor, Success Networks (Burlington, VT)
1994-1998, McDonough Scholar
McDonough Center for Leadership and Business at Marietta College
http://mcdonough.marietta.edu