Hospital PR

While Enloe Medical Center wrangles with the nurses’ union over a new contract and fights another wing of employees and their vote to bring in union representation, the hospital also endeavors to present itself in a positive light to the public. That’s because its ambitious multi-million-dollar plans to expand into the surrounding neighborhood are about to come to their final resolution before the Chico City Council.

Enloe has employed billboards highlighting the words “Experience, Excellence, Essential” (they might want to add “Expanding") and sappy TV ads to that end. It also contacted local media to announce its offer to put up for bid six houses otherwise destined for destruction once the expansion begins.

Enloe is offering the houses at a starting bid of $1. The catch, of course, is that the buyer will have to move the house he or she purchases; a job that can cost as much as $50,000, depending on the distance involved in the move. A plot of land to set the house upon is also required. The expense and effort, coupled with the short timeline for offering bids and the age of the houses, makes it highly unlikely that anybody will offer to buy any of them.

But Enloe’s public relations campaign to save the houses makes sense in that the hospital can now hold this effort up as proof that it cares about the neighborhood it is about to alter forever. And a little good will can go a long way in greasing the wheels of public—and City Council—sentiment as Enloe looks for its final approval of expansion.