This past summer Audubon County Memorial Hospital and Clinics (ACMH) began a new student internship program. This program is designed to give college students in the area an opportunity to learn various aspects of working in a rural critical access hospital. The goal of the program was to combine the interests of the students with job positions within ACMH. Depending on the students selected, their skillset, and the needs of the organization, internship assignments are created.
Interested students interviewed with a committee of ACMH professionals led by Human Resources Director, Haillie Bruch, SHRM-CP. This year two college students were selected Kerrigan Larsen (Audubon, IA) and Eleanor Greving (Elk Horn, IA). The students worked throughout the summer with both students returning during their winter break. Both Kerrigan and Eleanor are working within the Department of Administration and the Marketing/Communications Department.
ACMH Administration Staff are eager to share insights from their interns with the community. This week the ACMH Student Intern Spotlight is on Eleanor Greving. The staff applaud the exceptional work Eleanor performed at ACMH this summer.
The following is a Question and Answer with Eleanor.
- Where do you go to school? What do you go to school for?
I’m currently a journalism major and marketing minor at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. My academic work is centered on visual storytelling, supported by hands-on experience in photography, web design, and communication with the general public. After earning my bachelor’s degree, I plan to advance my education by earning my Master’s Degree in Marketing. In and after this program, I will combine my technical skills and creative vision to produce impactful, multimedia-driven material.
- Tell us about your internship experience.
My experience here at ACMH has been nothing short of eventful! As I am not pursuing a career in the medical field, my intentions within the internship were to focus on the marketing side where I’d be able to showcase my strengths within the journalism sphere and still be able to cater to the hospital internship’s intentions. I had an incredible experience getting to work with such focused and dedicated staff whose goal is to be intentional with everything they produce.
- What type of experience and skills did you learn during your internship?
Over the summer, I have learned more about how a hospital runs from the administrative side, which led me to gain experience in a plethora of areas. I furthered my experience in photography (editing) and project coordination within a fast-paced business environment. I worked in cross-functional teams, which improved my skills in communication and teamwork. One of my key responsibilities was to capture images at all hospital associated events and edit them to be published. Through this creative process, I shot and edited images, created hand-outs for providers, wrote press releases, and helped with any and every task the administration asked for. Additionally, I improved my problem-solving skills working with people and challenging tasks. Overall, this experience has gone beyond by helping me and Kerrigan be prepared for any life circumstances.
- What was the most important lesson you learned during your internship?
The most important lesson I learned during my internship was to believe in your skills and your training; with the confidence you have in yourself, being able to do even the simplest of tasks is made easier. Having the amazing administration’s full confidence in our productivity and creative abilities surely helped us along the way. Additionally, something that I have to remind myself of throughout life but could be deemed helpful in this setting would be that practice makes progress, not perfection. This internship is a perfect place to make your own individual progress.
- What advice would you offer to students about internships?
The advice that I would offer to students about this internship would be to soak everything in. Listen attentively to every conversation. Listen to how the staff speak to each other, respect each other, and do your best to replicate the same level of communication and respect to every department, from Environmental Services to Med-Surg to Administration. Soak in the hands-on event planning, the efficiency of filing paperwork, and comradery all while you’re finding your own groove. Above all, my advice is to enjoy it.
- What is something (advice, knowledge, etc.) from this experience that you will take with you and use in your future?
Something from this experience that I will be taking with me will be the specific communication I learned throughout my time here. Although I entered this internship with a high level of confidence in my communication skills, there is always room for improvement. Learning how to communicate and phrase emails to individuals and departments alike helped me understand just how specific you have to be while working in a fast-paced environment such as Audubon County Memorial Hospital and Clinics. The confidence in myself and my abilities is greater than when I walked here and that is something I believe this program is designed for.
