She Said He Said

JEFF

GRAY

INTERVIEW

Emergency

medical

transport

program

connects

public

relations to

medicine

LIFEFLIGHT

Jeffrey Gray shares

his

connection

to

public

relations

ISSUE 1OCTOBER2016

public relations magazine

08 12

16

Wh

at's

Insi

de?

0304

Who is Jeffrey Gray?She Says He Says

page 2

Jeff GrayJeff Gray is the Manager ofEmergency Communicationsat Vanderbilt. UniversityMedical Center. Gray hasnurtured, grown and nowmanages the LifeFlightprogram at the hospital aswell. Prior to his 14 years atVanderbilt, Gray was in theArmy's military police

Teen MagazineSassyPage 33

Page 3

and emergency medicalservices (EMS). Gray agreedto interview with publicrelations student Ally Fuchsto give her an insight on whata public relationspractitioner does. In thefollowing article, Graydiscusses what its like to bein the medical field of publicrelations.

SheSays HeSays

A: There are people on call who have a medical

training background. They must be currently

licensed in order to understand medical

terminology as well as be able to assist once the

air ambulance arrives if necessary. I manage

those people as well as the department. I was

brought in 14 years ago to grow the LifeFlight

program so I oversee all of it.

Q: Mr. Gray, please describeyour department's structure

Q: Mr. Gray, what category ofpublic relations would you say youaddress the most?

Page 43Page 4

Q: what does your job entail?A; we are the first line of communication in

event of a disaster for the hospital. In addition

we communicate to the public about disasters

and crises (such as accidents). We also handle

all ambulance services to and from the

hospital. For the most part, we are the "behind

the scenes" guys. Besides from our function as

emergency services, we are very much one

way communicators unless a news reporter

requests more information or an interview.

Q: Do you consider yourself a publicrelations professional, why or whynot?

A: No. While I practice communications and

public relations, I have no background in it and I

do not have any public relations affiliations.

A: Crisis for sure.

Editor's note: The one way

communication sounds

like public information

from Grunig's models of

public relations.

A: Not to take anything personally. Whenever

there is crisis, people panic. They want all the

information possible and sometimes we can't

give it to them. Sometimes that due to HIPPA

and sometimes its because we don't have

updates to give them. In any case, people say

anything they can to learn more and you can't

let what they say get to you.

Q: What is something you wishyou had known before you becamea communications professional?

Teen MagazineSassy Page 5

Gurneys for when emergencies arise

weather conditions affecting ambulances

Q: Do you do anything supplementaryto maintain current knowledge ofpublic relations and applicablemedical practices?

A: Absolutely. Like many organizations, we have

monthly in-services where we discuss scenarios,

situations and current information

Q: What is the hardest part of yourjob?

A: Stating the right information at the right time in

the right way to the right people

Editor's note:

Sounds like

the news

framing

theory

Q: Do you think workingfor a hospital isany/much different thanworking for a firm?

A: Its very difficult. At a hospital

we focus on crisis communication.

Other firms handle all sides of

public relations. We have a much

narrower focus. However that

also means we have to excel that

field.

Q: What are somesimilarities between youand the doctors at thishospital?

A: We are both faces of the

hospital. We represent it and our

patients.

Page 6

References

Lifeflight call center

Vanderbilt LifeFlight - LifeFlight Staff & Leadership ... (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2016, from

https://www.vanderbilthealth.com/lifeflight/16046

Vanderbilt LifeFlight - Vanderbilt Health Nashville, TN. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2016,

from http://www.vanderbilthealth.com/lifeflight/