...Phoenix HCS 320 Health Care Communication Strategies MU13BHA08 Communication During a Crisis Situation Given the scenario, today as the director of a regional Emergency Management Office, the phone begun to ring more than usual. I had started receiving official reports that the public water supplies of several towns in the area have become contaminated with a life-threatening biological agent. Contingency plans must be addressed within the organization, and with the public without creating a panic. This paper will cover development of a communication plan, and what the communication plan should include. This paper will also cover topics regarding potential advantages, and challenges with communication, communication with the public, and private sector, message mapping, the use of social media, and how media might be used with today’s modern technology. If carefully designed, communication plan can save precious time when an emergency occurs and enable leaders and spokespersons to focus on particulars of the emergency at hand, and the quality, accuracy, and speed of their responses. To show the context of messaging as part of the overall plan, the following describes what a comprehensive communication plan should include. • Describe and designate staff roles and responsibilities for different emergency scenarios • Designate who is accountable for leading the response • Designate who is responsible for implementing various actions • Designate who needs to be consulted...
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...Abstract Disasters have devastating and severe acute and long-term consequences for individuals and communities. The paper expounds on the social ramifications of disasters, while highlighting a disaster’s effects in vulnerable populations. The collaborative actions of communities, governments, public health, media, and health professionals are also depicted in the paper. Lastly, implications for Advanced Practice Nurses concerning leadership, involvement in public policy and education, and development of advanced disaster planning are illustrated. Keywords: disaster, disaster response and planning, social ramifications, advanced practice nursing. Disaster--the term itself invokes feelings of dread, despair, and devastation. Furthermore, the effects of disasters on human condition are far-reaching and unpredictable. For health care professionals, disaster preparedness and response entails an understanding of the socio-economic issues and the collective responsibilities of multiple agencies when a disaster strikes. Disasters affect individuals, families, societies, and communities, with little time for any warning or preparation.1 The collective obligations of government, communities, hospitals, and medical professionals are underscored during this trying time. Introduction What is a disaster? Calamity, catastrophe, tragedy, are just some of the words uttered when a disaster occurs. Perry and Quarantelli2 explained that disaster has several meanings depending...
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...THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN CRISIS PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE AND RECOVERY By Jason Christopher Chan (RPO) Executive Summary In recent years, social media has exploded as a category of online discourse where people create content, share it, bookmark it and network at a prodigious rate. The five key characteristics of social media: collectivity; connectedness; completeness; clarity and collaboration lend itself to be used increasingly to support crisis management functions. This paper examines the various categories of social media tools to understand how they can be utilised to enhance analytical and response capabilities of organisations for crisis management. The paper identified four main social media functions: (1) information dissemination, (2) disaster planning and training, (3) collaborative problem solving and decision making, and (4) information gathering, which are then mapped onto the three crisis management phases of preparedness, response and recovery to describe how a range of social media tools may be used to enhance crisis communications. Case examples of international organisations and governments using social media for crisis management are shared. The paper proposes a framework to enhance government use of social media for crisis management that encompasses the need for a mandate, differentiated guidelines and three key capabilities to be developed. 1 Introduction 1. Crisis management is a critical organisational function that involves planning and dynamic...
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...a director of a regional emergency management office, I received official reports that the public water supplies of several towns in the area have become contaminated. When something comes up, that is very urgent and very important such as a life-threatening biological agent; the organization is facing an event defined as a health crisis. According to Issues and Crisis Communications Management : “Crisis - Any immediate situation that causes deviation from regular operating practices and has the ability to impact your organization's corporate reputation or value” . Health care crisis used to be handled in the past by a limited communication system such as television and radio. Those days, the newer communication technologies such as internet and media are more involved to inform the public about the latest news minute by minute. To control the crisis, the organization has a crisis plan to help hold the situation and contain the spread of the crisis. A well-conceived crisis communication plan will guide our emergency management office and its team from different departments such as communication office confidently through immediate and near-term steps and outline actions. Communication inside and outside the organization during a crisis is essential. A group of well-trained staff are ready to answer questions and keep the public informed and up to date about the public water crisis. Inside the organization, a staff of five professional media relations specialists has...
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...HCS\320 Introduction: Emergency alludes to an occurrence of undesirable occasions in the environment which prompt unsettling influences and significant agitation amongst the people. Emergency, by and large, emerges without prior warning triggers a sentiment danger and dread in the representatives. In less complex words emergency prompts instability and causes significant damage to the association and its workers. It is fundamental for the representatives to sense the early indications of emergency and caution the workers against the negative results of the same. Emergency not just influences the smooth working of the association additionally to represent a danger to its image name (Ryan & Islam, 2014). Emergency communication is a sub-category within communications strategy of the advertising calling that is intended to secure and shield an individual, organization, or association confronting an immediate danger to its members, citizens or property. Crisis communication can also be characterized as emergency correspondence that facilitates basic needs of citizens and can truly affect an association's execution and produce negative outcomes. Significance can be socially constructed on account of this; the way that the partners of an association view an occasion (decidedly, impartially, or contrarily) is a significant contributing variable to whether the occasion will turn into a crisis. Additionally, it is critical to discrete a real emergency circumstance from an incident...
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...removed to a more stable, secure, and warm environment. “local emergency managers must consider the needs of certain "vulnerable groups" - people within the community who are especially susceptible to hazards (Morrow 1999). The Memory Center is facing extreme weather conditions due to a rainstorm that knocked out the cities power, and the failure of its generator. There are 95 elderly men and women living in the center who are feeling the effects of the temperature dropping. The emergency manager has many decisions to make while ensuring the safety of the Memory Center residents. Each level of the Incident Command System (ICS) must be alerted. Some of their tasks will be covered below to show what their responsibilities are. A brief description of ICS The Incident Command System is a system for controlling all of the necessary components of incident management in a well-organized and efficient way. The primary purpose is to allow resources, such as equipment, personnel, and communications, across multiple agency jurisdictions with one organizational structure. ICS is product of the National Incident Management System, which falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security via the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Despite being federal in origin, it works in any community, from the smallest village to the largest geographic area. It is appropriate for any type of emergency,...
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...indicate that the public water supplies in several different towns in the area are contaminated with a biological agent that is life threatening. Being the director of the Emergency Management Office, there has to be a contingency plan put into place within the office’s organization and with the public without creating a widespread panic. Knowing the situations in the past, the issues have to be dealt with immediately. Doing research and using the information from the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor malfunction in 1979, will help to know how to respond to this disaster. Even though there were no deaths or injuries from this particular incident, it drew a lot of media attention and created great concern within the local area and surrounding areas. The major forms of communication used in this situation were three major television networks and the local radio stations. Also, there was another situation in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina went through New Orleans and left it devastated. Many of the local citizens and their families were affected and most of them had to be relocated. In this situation, there were newer communication technologies, like the Internet, that was used to disseminate information. The first thing to be done as director is to send an email out to all employees calling an emergency meeting as soon as possible. The meeting will be mandatory and any employee that is out of office will have to be on video conference. In...
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...handling the emergency crisis with this situation. Our department is handling the communication method of handling this crisis and informing the public of this threat and the steps they need to take to protect themselves and their families. Communication in this crisis will be crucial to keep the public calm and to present the information they will need. The media is a major source that our department is using to get our message out to the public. However, our office must be careful to prevent the media from creating a panic. Our department will be coordinating with the Emergency Operations Center, The State Emergency Management Center, Department of Health Services, Department of Natural Resources, state, and local police officials and the volunteer organizations. The uses of these internal departments will coordinate the information that will be release in this crisis situation. Updates from state and local police, firefighters, and the National Guard will keep this department updated on the current developments that is occurring in the affected areas. Our departments will coordinate all communications so information is correctly given to departments and news releases to the public. This will control and give this crisis situation the effective outcome and keep fear at a minimum ("Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs Division of Emergency Management," 2013). The state government notification will be to our office when they have requested emergency assistance from...
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...biological agent which has spread in the water supply of several towns. Technology has changed the way a community in a disaserous situation communicates after the Three Mile Island and Hurricane Katrina. Comparing the way an Emergency Management Office communicates with the public and the groups involved, the advantages and challenges that come with the past and present communication technology, and the media opportunities used in today’s world. Individuals and Groups With a life-threatening situation there are many individuals and groups internally and externally that need to be notified of the situation. Within the office the entire staff needs to be aware of the seriousness of the situation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Center for Disease Control Center (CDC) are a few federal agencies that need to be aware of the situation. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) was directed by Congress to develop the first National Emergency Communications Plans (NECP) in early 2000 (Security, 2008). Within the NECP there are partnerships that also need to be notified of the situation, some of them are, the SAFECOM Executive Committee (EC) and Emergency Response Council (ERC), the Emergency Communications Preparedness Center (ECPC), and the Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communications (FPIC). Local hospitals need...
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...Group B: Social Media’s Role in Disaster Preparedness Social Media presence in this day and age is viral. The media not only covers so called everyday matters but also focuses on world events. Some of the most horrific and widely covered events are disasters. During times of disaster, our populations turn to some form of mass media for information. Few have not used the Internet during severe weather to check for warnings? Few have not turned on the television to check for the last developments or for directions on how to respond appropriately to a disaster? According to Veenema (2013) when asked where people usually turn to for information in the case of a local emergency, in 2007, 61% of respondents named TV; 29%, radio; 6%, the Internet; 2%, newspapers; 1% did not know. This presents the question, what is the role of mass media in the time of natural disasters? Mass media’s presence during disaster can expose a community’s strengths or weaknesses related to disaster preparedness. Media agenda is referred to as the deliberate coverage of topics or events with the goal of influencing public opinion and public policy (Barnes, et al., 2008). In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the gulf coast appeared to be in a panic. The media repeatedly highlighted the flaws in local, state, and federal emergency preparedness procedures. One should note that during this same time, there were many courageous and dangerous rescues made, all of which seemed to be over looked or over...
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...selected in Week Two from the following lists to complete this assignment option: • Health care processes to be updated, streamlined, or implemented o Electronic medical records o Communicating new policies and procedures o Creating work schedules o Community plan for emergency preparedness o New human resources system o A process of your choice, approved by the instructor • Organization in which the process will be updated, streamlined, or implemented: o Long-term care o Emergency management o Health management o An organization of your choice, approved by the instructor Prepare a 15- to 20-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation, including title and reference slides, on this health care process. Address the following points in your presentation: • How this health care communication process might be updated, streamlined, or implemented • What team structures, functions, goals, obstacles, and communication will be used in the selected process • How to integrate teams, planning, and training to provide a successful outcome of the selected process • Recommendations on how the team might effectively communicate inside and outside the organization, including the use of social media • How the communication process will progress from initiation to completion • How communication may affect each point in the process • The changing role of health care...
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...Emergency Management Office Disaster One Holly Cains HCS/320 27 April 2015 Ann Maleta Emergency Management Office Disaster One With the recent news of the water supply being contaminated, our Emergency Management Office will take immediate action in solving this problem and making sure the community stays safe. First, there are several individuals and groups that will be communicating inside and outside the organization during this crisis situation that are authorized to give official information. Secondly, there are media opportunities during this management crisis that are not limiting us to using current and high class technology. Third, I know there is a time and place for social media, but it seems as if most people turn there for answers, and we need to control the rumors that will follow. Fourth, there are potential advantages and challenges associated with communicating within the organization alongside the public and private sectors during this crisis situation. Finally, strategies will change with every situation as factors in each situation are different. This is a very dangerous situation that our community has been put in and we will do our best to keep everyone informed, safe, and do our best to get this situation under control quickly. Rumor Mill to a Minimum There are several individuals and groups that will be communicating inside and outside the organization during this crisis situation that are authorized to give official information. Their...
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...WEB 2.0 EMERGENCY APPLICATIONS: HOW USEFUL CAN TWITTER BE FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE?Full Text Available By: Mills, Alexander; Rui Chen; JinKyu Lee; Rao, H. Raghav. Journal of Information Privacy & Security, 2009, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p3-26, 24p Tools and methods for capturing Twitter data during natural disasters.Detail Only Available By: Bruns, Axel; Liang, Yuxian Eugene. First Monday, Apr2012, Vol. 17 Issue 4, p3-3, 1p During the course of several natural disasters in recent years, Twitter has been found to play an important role as an additional medium for many--to--many crisis communication. Emergency service... Subjects: INFORMATION sharing; RESEARCH; OPEN source software; APPLICATION program interfaces (Computer software); CRISIS communication; NATURAL disasters; SOCIAL media; TWITTER (Web resource) Improving Disaster Management. Full Text Available By: Underwood, Sarah. Communications of the ACM. Feb2010, Vol. 53 Issue 2, p18-20. 3p. 2 Color Photographs. 9/11 Commission report : the official report of the 9/11 Commission and related publications.Detail Only Available [Washington, D.C.] : U.S. G.P.O., [2004] 1 leaflet : ill. ; 28 cm. Language: English; (AN gpr000605102) The Government Response to 9/11: Communications Technology and the Media. Detail Only Available By: Fu, Laura. Library & Archival Security. Jul-Dec2011, Vol. 24 Issue 2, p103-118. 16p. DOI: 10.1080/01960075.2011.592034. The social media manifesto: A comprehensive review of the impact of social...
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...of a regional Emergency Management Office during a crisis I will have to have control. Without control the crisis will turn into a catastrophe. With an effective contingency plan in place this will help me to stay in control of the situation. I will also have alternate plans put in place just in case my key plans do not happen as expected. It will take everyone involved inside and outside of the Emergency Management Office working together to make sure the crisis is worked through and that the public remains calm. Individuals or Groups That Will Be Communicating Inside and Outside the Organization during the Crisis Anyone who communicates inside and outside the organization should be key to the crisis. There should be one person assigned to each role in my crisis communication team. In a large crisis there might be a need to go outside of my main office for support from volunteers or a nearby college [ (Services, 2006) ]. The people inside the communication team will consist of the public information officer, content and messages coordinator, media coordinator, direct public outreach coordinator, partner coordinator, and the rumor control coordinator. Each one on these will have a role to follow. The public information officer will activate the risk communication plan and direct the work related to the release of information [ (Services, 2006) ]. The content and messages coordinator will make sure the information is received from the Emergency Operations Center...
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...Disaster Management Theory Many changes are abounding in the field of emergency management. These changes include how policy is written, how research is conducted, and how responses are being handled. Questions are brought to light such as are the four fundamental concepts of emergency management (preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery) truly guiding in today’s modern world or is it out dated? There is a delicate balance in finding the right level of emergency management and how much of it plays into terrorism and the Department of Homeland Security. Some argue that “Homeland security is a step back from the proactive approaches being recommended today, and it de-emphasizes all hazards other than terrorism” (MacEntire, 2004). Research is changing and students in academic research are finding there is more to the larger picture than many modern day professionals want to see in the world around them. Many have forgotten the past and only focus on the present, and on occasion the future. Typically, however, these focuses on the future are derived from some kind of catastrophic event having taken place that is forcing them to see a problem or error in the system they have come to rely on. They react to changes in society and bureaucratic changes in government. In fact, according to Sjoberg (1962), the government takes more control of situations and decisions after a disaster has occurred. In trying to come up with answers to how society reacts, how disasters...
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