Laura Bustetter was born and reared in Ashland, Kentucky. She graduated from Boyd County High School then attended several colleges. First she was at Kentucky State for two years. She spent a year studying at Oxford in England. She then graduated Summa Cum Laude from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia with a degree in Journalism. She came to MTSU to work on a Master's Degree, but her education was interrupted by marriage that proved to be of short duration.

She started her career at Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington. She moved from that position to a similar job at the King's Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) in her hometown of Ashland, Kentucky.

She explains that what brought her to Franklin was an opportunity to handle the events for the Heritage Foundation/Downtown Franklin Association, working under Nancy Williams. She says, "I was there for about three years-and it gave me some of my favorite experiences."

Currently she is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations at the Williamson Medical Center. She directs a department that operates as an in-house ad agency. Her department operates in five different areas. One is strategy and overall communications, which she directs personally. The other four, which she oversees, are graphic design, media relations, internal communications and community outreach.

Concerning her job here she relates "I really enjoy it . It is a good hospital to work in. Being so close to Nashville, we have to set ourselves apart. We have to maintain the same level of expertise that Nashville hospitals have, but offer something extra. We place a great emphasis on personal relations. We try to treat our patients and their families as though they are our own families."

In her spare time, Laura likes to spend time training and playing with her dog, Belka, named after one of the two dogs, Belka and Strelka, sent into orbit by the Russians in Korabl-Sputnik-2. Laura's Belka is an Irish setter-Austrailian shepherd mix. Belka gets Laura's paper for her every morning and likes to ride around with Laura in her Miata convertible with the top down. Laura says Belka gets all the attention. She describes Belka as the "coolest dog ever."

Laura says she is lucky to make it to any of the Lions Club meetings. But any time she is asked by someone about a civic club, she tells them about the Lions. She believes strongly in the Lions Club and the work we do. When she is able to make meetings she likes the friendliness of the club members. Unlike other clubs where there is a big emphasis on business networking, she finds the people in Lions to be far more genuine. On a number of occasions Laura has arranged for speakers from the medical community to come and address the Lions Club meetings concerning their areas of specialty.

In addition to the Lions Club, Laura is a member of the Tennessee Society for Health Care Marketing, as well as the National Society for Health Care Marketing. She attends Grace Chapel on Southhall Road in Franklin.

We appreciate Laura's continuing support of the Lions Club and are pleased to feature her as the Lion of the Week.

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