The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations 2024 Rural Health Leaders Conference is excited to offer new topics and sessions this year, with two panel conversations focusing on solutions. The first will address our state’s housing shortage and the second, better understanding media relations. This year’s conference is taking place June 25-26, 2024 at Drifter’s Event Center in Fort Pierre, SD.
Housing Shortages continue to impact South Dakota, with the healthcare industry hit hard. The truth is housing challenges that are impacting South Dakota are not the challenges of one specific industry but rather a statewide issue impacting many industries and communities. This year’s session titled: South Dakota Housing Challenges: A Conversation About Solutions, will focus on the many ways communities can work together to focus on solutions. Attendees will hear from both federal and state leaders whose focus is addressing housing issues in South Dakota. Joining the discussion will be the US Department of Housing and Urban Development; Dakota Home Resources, Planning and Development District and Grow South Dakota. Each will share programs that could assist your community with housing issues. Plus hear a rural South Dakota community that found a solution to help provide housing for their staff, while also building a new childcare center to address the town’s lack of daycare. This session is designed to help you think outside of the box, connect you with local and state housing professionals and focus on solutions to our state’s housing shortage.
The Role of the Media in Shaping the Public’s Perception of Healthcare is another panel conversation, focusing on media relations and the influence mass media has on all of us. The way consumers obtain their news has changed considerably over the years. First there were books, then newspapers, magazines, photography, sound recordings, films, radio, television, the internet, and now social media. This panel discussion will focus on the public’s perception of hospitals and healthcare delivery, and the impact large scale initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act, COVID-19, have had on those perceptions, which are largely delivered and influenced by “the media”.
During this session, learn effective tactics to managing the communication channels and messaging when working with the “press.”
Panelists, who include system public relations and communication representatives, and current journalists will navigate a 90-minute discussion focus on the follow questions:
- How much does the American public really understand about the current healthcare delivery system?
- How has the media shaped that impression?
- What steps should hospitals take to better partner with the local media?
- Who is the best spokesperson for a healthcare provider and why?
- What types of healthcare related stories does the public want to read or watch? How to prepare for an interview with a print reporter?
- How to prepare for an on-camera interview?
- What happens if you’re “misquoted”?
- What role does the media play in promoting health?
- Speak about the role and influence of social media in formulating public opinion.
- Is there such a thing as “off the record?”
Ready to learn more about the 2024 Rural Health Leaders Conference? Click Here
Need a hotel room? The SDAHO room block at AmericInn is full. Other lodging close to the conference venue include:
- Holiday Inn Express, 110 Stanley Rd, Fort Pierre, Phone: 605-223-9045
- My Place Hotels, 209 Hustan Ave, Fort Pierre, Phone: 605-494-2090
