A Whole New World
Hey, I’m Arianna Rich and I’m a rising junior ad major at Temple University. By a chance encounter a few months ago, I met the woman who is now my boss, and I have learned many lessons since and continue to grow every day. My internship position is at LOA Orthodontics in my hometown of Lancaster, PA. I know, what would a girl in advertising be doing at an orthodontist office? Well, the answer varies depending on who you ask, actually.
When I am in the office, I work with a team of awesome women who gracefully handle our reception, with some adaptations due to COVID restrictions. On days that we see patients in the office, I check people in for their appointments at their cars and take their temperatures before seating them. Once they are finished, a tech walks them out and lets me know that we are ready to schedule them for their next appointment. In between seeing patients, the front desk works on making sure our patients and employees have filled out COVID questionnaires and filing important patient health info. On the days where there are no patients, we work in the “satellite office” answering phone calls. These days are very fun and tricky because each phone call brings a new challenge and an opportunity to learn new things about our system and about our orthodontic practice. At the satellite office, I go through recalls to make sure everyone is seen by the doctor, take payments, create new patient portals, verify insurance, answer random call-in questions from parents, order lab appliances, deliver retainer pickups, scan in new patient info and financial information, and much more. I was hired to be a social media coordinator for LOA, but due to the overwhelming demand from patients during the COVID shutdown, my boss figured it would be good for me to be trained in front desk tasks as well so I could be a helping hand and get to know the staff and their values, as it would personalize the social media experience. During my admin time, I create social media posts and edit our existing pages to be more cohesive. I usually try to grab content of patients and employees when I am in the office and then edit those photos and videos during my down time at home. I have made a few instructional videos for our Facebook and Instagram and have made many posts. I am currently working on some exciting projects with some of the doctors which I will be posting later this month.
I am so so thankful to have the opportunity to work at LOA, and although it was overwhelming at first, I am happy that I learned the front desk position, because now I can speak in code and show off my orthodontic knowledge. I was also able to experience collaboration at a professional level and learn to lean on others for some things, yet be self-sufficient in other ways. I have never worked in an office setting before, so I was a bit nervous when I joined, but I was pleasantly surprised that everyone at LOA was so welcoming, kind, knowledgeable, and patient. I could not have asked for a better team or a better first internship experience!
