An Interview with Joyce Redden, Healthcare Public Relations Coordinator

Gresham, Smith and Partners was founded in 1967 in Nashville, Tennessee by architects Batey Grisham and Flem Smith, who are both still active in the firm. Over the ensuing thirty-four years, the firm has developed into a comprehensive multi-disciplined firm active in the core markets of healthcare, aviation, transportation, corporate architecture and environmental services.

Joyce Redden is the Healthcare Public Relations Coordinator for Gresham, Smith and Partners (GSP). She handles firm-wide PR for the Healthcare Division of GSP. The Healthcare Division handles 50-60% of the firm’s design work. They currently have nine offices providing HC design services. The focus of Ms. Redden’s work is media relations (press releases), conferences, award submissions, photography and strategic marketing/PR planning. She assists each office in developing their PR and marketing plans and also handles their media relations.

Ms. Redden’s range of responsibilities includes everything from writing press releases, to research on competition. She recommends the publications, conferences and awards GSP will target. She develops the plan and implement. With conferences, for example, she will recommend the conference, handle getting the exhibit there – including the booth design, hand-outs/give-aways-at times attend, and also get an evaluation of their participation.

Ms. Redden has been in her current position for not quite two years. She says the salary range for entry-level personnel is about $25,000. There isn’t current employment availability for entry-level personnel at GSP. Education required is at least a Bachelor’s degree and a couple years of experience.

This is a new area for the firm. They have had marketing before-What Ms. Redden calls sales-developing proposals and responses to requests for information about the company. Someone did handle conferences for the Nashville office, but no one has been responsible for developing and implementing an image awareness program or positioning plan.

Joyce Redden started in journalism, working as the editor of a weekly newspaper. She went to the corporate world in sales promotion-working on newsletters for a corporation. From there, she moved into PR where she handles the news release program, co-op advertising, etc. Ms. Redden enjoys her job. She has had opportunities to leave the profession and times to consider whether to continue or not, but she really enjoys what she does.

What Ms. Redden sees as the biggest misconception/problem with PR is too many people get caught up in the glamour. “What you have to remember is day-to-day customer service and relationship building.”