Paper Anyone?

(Originally posted December 20, 2008)

Before I start, I need to say something about yesterday’s post. Looks like Chrysler got its handout with a couple of caveats. The one I was most interested in is where the CSuite executives need to take a pay cut. Hmmm. I wonder if $10 is going to hurt their budgets. I want to see exactly how much they’re going to cut their own salaries. Make it good, Jim Press. Your company’s good name depends on it!

My mom is in the hospital. Every day the newspaper gets delivered to her room. Yesterday the woman who delivered it stopped her cart outside the room, grabbed the paper, handed it to me and introduced herself.

She was Jen Chahanovich, Chief Operating Officer of Kapiolani Hospital at Pali Momi. She said she was delivering newspapers and talking to patients and their families. She wanted to know how Mom’s stay was going, whether she/we were being informed about her care plan, if there was anything she could help us with.

We told her about the bathroom door of the first room Mom was in. Then asked about a form we faxed to the hospital and hadn’t heard back about. She said she would get right on it.

Being a PR person, I had to compliment Jen on the idea to deliver the newspapers. It was a nice touch for the COO to hand you your paper and ask if there was anything the hospital staff could be doing better ... and what they were doing well.

She said she enjoyed getting out and talking with the patients and their families. Requiring the executive staff to deliver the newspapers made it nearly mandatory that they get out and mingle.

Not 20 minutes after she left we got a phone call from the person responsible for receiving the form we faxed. Later in the day, the person came to Mom’s room to update us on her progress in locating the form and talking with Mom’s employer. At 7:30 last night she stopped in again to give us a final status report.

Having executives deliver the newspaper is a brilliant public relations action. Making sure people follow up on any uncovered problems makes sure that it is more than just a PR move. After all, if you uncover a problem then do nothing to fix it, you have just done more damage than good.

On a final note, I need to throw some kudos to the youth group at St. Elizabeth’s church in Aiea. About 20 high school aged kids came to the hospital Thursday night and did some caroling. They were certainly enjoying themselves and it was so nice to hear them than the loud speakers blaring codes and announcements.

With all the negative news you hear about teenagers, it’s nice to see that there are many who are actively making their community a better place to be.