BY SHELBY BOURGEOIS
NNB Student Reporter
“You’ve got to know your media,” Rotolo says. “TV wants video, radio wants engaging speakers.”
ST. PETERSBURG – Sometimes it begins with a 3 a.m. call, other times with an urgent email or a late morning text. No matter what time her work day begins, Danielle Rotolo has the same routine.
“When I come in, in the morning – well, even before I come in, in the morning when I wake up and I’m sitting in my bed, I’m looking at my phone and my emails,” she said. “Everything is always pending news.”
Rotolo, 30, is a media relations specialist for All Children’s Hospital, a 259-bed pediatric hospital in St. Petersburg. All Children’s is a member of the prestigious Johns Hopkins Medicine, and it is the only licensed specialty children’s hospital on Florida’s west coast.
As part of a three-person team, Rotolo does everything from managing the hospital’s Facebook and Twitter pages to setting up media events and working with reporters.
A big part of her job is managing patients’ stories, Rotolo said. She is required to keep updated on patients’ conditions and facilitate their interaction with the news media.
“Our policy is, if media shows up, to always have a member of our staff with the reporter, photographer, whoever it is,” she said.
Rotolo acts as a liaison to ensure no patients feel as though their privacy has been violated. There are regulations and guidelines, like HIPPA, that specify what type of information can be released, and to whom. Rotolo works with patients and reporters to make sure that while stories and information get out to the public, no patients feel like their boundaries have been crossed or their privacy compromised.
That is not the only reason for “media babysitting,” as Rotolo calls it. There have been times when reporters tried to sneak past the lobby check-ins to find people involved in newsworthy incidents or get a statement from a doctor.
“You never know when somebody has a hidden agenda,” she said. “You never know if they’re really doing a story about cleanliness in the workplace or something … You never know.”
Even though she is used to telling stories, from her time in college and television news, Rotolo said she gets a little something extra out of her job now. “There’s more purpose,” she said with a smile. Working with the hospital, she gets to tell the stories of two-time cancer survivors and young mothers who pull through unlucky accidents.
Last summer Rotolo went to Washington, D.C., with one of these “stories” – Tony, a two-time cancer survivor, and his family for Family Advocacy Day, an event sponsored by children’s hospitals. “He was there to tell his story,” Rotolo said. “He went to lobby for All Children’s Hospital and what children’s hospitals need.”
She’s known Tony, now 16, since he first came to All Children’s for treatment. “That kid is involved in everything, he’s great,” said Rotolo. Despite his condition, Tony is a varsity soccer player, she said.
Rotolo grew up in Tampa and graduated from H.B. Plant High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and broadcast journalism in 2006 from the University of Central Florida.
During her college years, she pictured herself as a TV anchor or producer, and three weeks before graduation landed a position with WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, as a reporter and anchor. From June 2006 until May 2009, Rotolo kept up the fast-paced life of a broadcast journalist, doing several stories a week, performing live shots and generating story ideas in Tupelo and then Fort Meyers at WBBH.
“I literally worked every single shift, which included midnight to 9 a.m.” she said. “Little things like that, being away from home, working crazy shifts …. That was kind of my draw to get away from news. I was just ready to come back home and have more of a normal schedule, normal life.”
Rotolo returned to the Tampa area in December 2010 and worked at KForce Inc. as a copy writer and public relations manager until February 2014.
That’s when she made the jump to media relations at All Children’s. In addition to a less demanding schedule and being closer to home, Rotolo enjoyed the change in staff.
“People are nicer,” she said. Television newsrooms tend to become “competitive hot beds,” she said, while All Children’s is more familial. Walking down the hospital hallways, Rotolo greeted every employee – from doctors to custodians – by name and with a smile.
Rotolo didn’t leave the world of journalism completely. “I still see a lot of the same people,” she said. She frequently runs into old colleagues in the media, which often helps. Rotolo believes that her reporting background is a benefit. She can use some of her connections to further hospital stories. Having experience in the field as a reporter also gives her a dual perspective.
“I can think like a reporter,” she said. “I’ve been on the other side.” Working as an anchor and reporter helped Rotolo know what reporters want, whether it is television, radio or print.
“You’ve got to know your media,” she said. “TV wants video, radio wants engaging speakers. You have to know what they want.”
Rotolo also sets up hospital events like telethon and radioathons. She has a hand in the scheduling and planning and coordinates with media to make sure the community knows about upcoming events.
Asked if she has any regrets about leaving broadcast news, Rotolo shook her head.
To her, All Children’s Hospital has given her a new opportunity to explore the things she loved about journalism, but with a little more purpose and a lot more family.