Joplin Tornado Case Study - amga.org Mercy locations (twice daily – or more ... •Construction...
Transcript of Joplin Tornado Case Study - amga.org Mercy locations (twice daily – or more ... •Construction...
3/11/2015
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Communicating
After a Disaster
Joplin Tornado
Case Study
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About Mercy
• 5TH largest Catholic health system in U.S.
• Home office in St. Louis; hospital, physician
offices and other services in Missouri, Arkansas,
Kansas and Oklahoma; states; outreach
ministries in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi
• 35 acute care hospitals
• 40,000 co-workers
• 2,000 Mercy Clinic physicians
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Mercy Marketing &
Communications
• Moved to centralized structure in spring 2010
• 90 co-workers across four states
• Local marketing/communications teams supported by functional/consolidated teams representing: • Media relations
• Creative Services (writing, design, video)
• Digital Marketing (internet, intranet, social media)
• Marketing/Customer Research
• Physician Relations
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Mercy in Joplin
• One of our newest communities
• Joined Mercy in November 2009; acquired from
Catholic Health Initiatives of Denver
• Good fit culturally – originally established by the
Sisters of Mercy
• Good fit strategically – surrounded by existing
Mercy communities in SW Missouri, SE Kansas
and NW Arkansas
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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May 21, 2011
367 beds
2,200
co-workers
40-year-old
campus,
9 stories
EHR
installed
3 weeks
earlier 5 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015
The Disaster
Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011
Time: 5:41 p.m.
Impact: 22-mile long, one-mile wide
band of destruction
Hospital patients: 183 patients; 24 in
ER, 28 in ICU, 1 in surgery
Co-workers: 117 working at the hospital
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Initial Response
Evacuation: 90 minutes through 3
evacuation points. Patients carried out
by doors, backboards, wheelchairs,
chairs and mattresses; moved to other
medical facilities or discharged to home
Casualties: 5 patients and 1 visitor
Medical Records: Patients’ electronic
medical records printed in Springfield
and sent to non-Mercy facilities
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May 22, 2011
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
May 23, 2011
Photo courtesy
Kansas City Star 9 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015
Joplin Recovery
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Joplin Recovery
Photo courtesy: AP/Tulsa World - Adam Wisneski 11
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
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Joplin Recovery
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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Crisis Communications Timeline
SUNDAY NIGHT
• Word spreads across Mercy – phone calls, text
messages, e-mails
• Disaster plan goes into action
– Executive, operational and communications/media
leaders and staff, both on-the-ground and by phone, text
and e-mail, begin communicating to determine initial
response
– Temporary command center established at Mercy
Hospital in Springfield, one hour from Joplin
• City of Joplin establishes temporary triage/medical
center at Memorial Hall in Joplin 17 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015
Mercy
Command
Center in
Springfield
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Joplin Recovery Memorial Hall
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Joplin Recovery Memorial Hall
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MONDAY: Joplin
• Early morning – four members of Springfield
communications/media team arrive in Joplin to
support three-member team in Joplin
– Key task: manage media on the ground at
hospital site, Memorial Hall and other locations
– Secondary: manage incoming media calls
– Ongoing: coordinate with team in St. Louis and
other Mercy locations (twice daily – or more
often – conference calls throughout day/week)
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Media Crews Arrive
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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Joplin Recovery “Satellite Row”
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Media Coverage
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MONDAY: St. Louis
• Communications SWAT team formed in St. Louis
• Communications command center established in board room at Mercy Hospital St. Louis
– Manage internal messaging
– Handle overflow media calls and coordinate release of news to media
– Coordinate with Foundation Office on donations, HR on co-worker communications/support, Administration on volunteer support
– Execute web strategy, including social media
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Key Strategy: Web
• Joplin “microsite” off of mercy.net
– Provided regular news updates
– Information to Joplin co-workers – how to
check in, get support
– Collection point for online donations to
support impacted co-workers and rebuilding
efforts
– Links to other resources and information,
especially ways to volunteer and help
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Key Strategy: Social Media
• Social media components
– Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flikr
– Listening posts
• Communicate to both co-workers and
community
• Reinforce, clarify facts where dialogue is
taking place
• Promote “response-rebuild” message of
hope to community 27 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015
Other Tools & Tactics
• Co-worker Intranet – Another tool for sharing news with Mercy co-workers,
promoting two-way dialogue and connecting Joplin co-
workers to resources and updates
• PSAs and electronic boards – Used in Joplin to connect/communicate with co-workers
• Co-worker Support Hotline – Another point of contact for Joplin co-workers
• Email and Text Messages – Text messages proved to be one of most reliable
platforms
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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TUESDAY
• Command center moved from Springfield to
Joplin (Holiday Inn Convention Center)
• Determined need for more on-the-ground media
relations support
– Media relations staff from Kansas arrived to support
Springfield/Joplin team
– Media relations staff from Oklahoma, Arkansas and
St. Louis area rounded out on-the-ground support
through rest of week
• Planned news conference in Joplin for
Wednesday 29 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015
Joplin Recovery Joplin Command Center
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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Joplin Command Center
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Joplin Command Center
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Joplin Command Center
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WEDNESDAY
• Mid-morning news conference in Joplin
– “We will rebuild” – including having a field
hospital back in operation in one week
– All co-workers will remain employed
• Covered live by online media outlets,
taped and broadcast locally and nationally
• News release picked up around the world
• Combination of “guerilla,” traditional and
social media tactics
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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“We Will Rebuild”
Press Conference
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THURSDAY-SUNDAY
• Satellite trucks began to leave but media
calls continued
• Construction continued by Mercy and
Missouri National Guard on new 60-bed
field hospital
• Mobile hospital opened Sunday at 7 a.m.
– Blessing ceremony held at 5:41 p.m., one
week to the minute that the tornado struck
– Facility connected to Mercy’s EHR
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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Mobile Hospital
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Mobile Hospital
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Mobile Hospital
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Mobile Hospital
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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Mobile Hospital
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By the Numbers
• Approximately 15 people deployed for on-the-
ground media management during first week
– Media relations team supplemented by
business development, marketing staff, even a
graphic designer
• Another 4 to 6 managed media calls from other
locations either full or part-time
• 4 to 6 team members in St. Louis managed
internal communications, web, news releases
• Work kept internal – no agency/consulting support 42 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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By the Numbers
• Managed estimated 500 media interviews and
calls in first 48 hours alone
• Vocus found 1,000 stories a day for first 3 days
• Several thousand media requests through mid-
summer (tracking system overwhelmed – didn’t
account for all)
• First day without media calls (including
weekends): June 19
• 200% increase in traffic to mercy.net
– 40% from Facebook
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Biggest Challenges
• Volume of media on the ground
• Spotty telecommunications
• Exhaustion – long days over extended
period of time
• Dealing with shock
• Biggest surprise – media were for most
part patient and kind
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Lessons Learned
• Have a crisis plan in place but be flexible
• Value of a coordinated communications/
media team – ability to bring resources to
bear
• Identify and prepare spokespersons but
adapt as necessary
• Celebrate milestones along the way – they
are important markers of progress
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Social Media Lessons
• Social media has forever changed how we
communicate and what is news – we can
influence but not control
• People demand hyper-transparency
• It’s less about control and more about
listening, responding, influencing, adapting
• When traditional systems break down,
social media takes on added influence
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N o t f o r r e u s e
N o t f o r r e u s e
Audience in Control
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Two-Way Dialogue
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Adapting the Message
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“Phase 2” rebuilding –
August 2011
•“Phase 3” component hospital - April 2012
•On former St. John’s Regional campus
•120 beds
31,000 square foot modular unit replaces field hospital Additional units house physician offices and other services
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N o t f o r r e u s e
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Phase 3 rebuilding –
April 2012
•“Component” hospital
•On former St. John’s Regional campus
•120 beds; restored birthing unit, cardiac
surgery
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4th
and Final Phase -
March 2015
Opens March 22
Located three miles
south of old hospital
campus
$465 million cost
205 beds with
capacity for
expansion
Storm-resistant;
built to withstand
winds of 110-250
mph 52 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015