Strengthening Risk Communications in Rural Health Care Emergency Management

00;00;01;05 - 00;00;48;18
Tom Haederle
Fast, accurate, effective. Three words that should drive the public communications strategy of health organizations in times of crisis or emergency. Welcome to Advancing Health, a podcast from the American Hospital Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA Communications,.Phelps Health, based in Rolla, Missouri, has some experience in disseminating critical information to wide audiences during emergencies or disasters, not to mention building trust, loyalty and brand awareness in the process.

00;00;48;21 - 00;01;16;13
Tom Haederle
Joining AHA senior Director John Supplitt today are two leaders from Phelps Health. Somer Overshon is Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications and Paige Marsolais-Heitman is director of Marketing and Public Relations. The group will discuss proven strategies for successful risk communication during crises which can be adopted by other health care organizations. Today's episode is brought to us via the Convening Leaders for Emergency and Response Initiative.

00;01;16;15 - 00;01;25;20
Tom Haederle
That's a funded partnership between HS Health Research and Educational Trust and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.

00;01;25;22 - 00;01;39;08
John Supplitt
I'm John Supplitt, senior director of AHA Rural Health Services, and it's my pleasure to introduce you to Somer Overshon and Paige Marsolais-Heitman from Phelps Health in Rolla, Missouri. Welcome, Somer and Paige.

00;01;39;10 - 00;01;41;08
Somer Overshon
Hello. So glad to be here today.

00;01;41;19 - 00;01;44;12
Paige Marsolais-Heitman
Yeah, good morning or good afternoon. We're excited to be here.

00;01;44;23 - 00;02;11;23
John Supplitt
Great! Let me provide our listeners with some background. Phelps Health serves over 200,000 residents across a six county area. It's county owned and an elected board, but it's not tax supported. Sole community Rural Referral Center of 242 beds, with multiple clinics employing more than 1900 people, including 100 plus providers, offering a vast array of primary and specialty services.

00;02;11;25 - 00;02;26;02
John Supplitt
Of course, this makes you a bit bigger, a little more robust than your neighboring critical access hospitals. Does the community expect more from Phelps, given your resources than perhaps from other rural hospitals? Somer, what are your thoughts?

00;02;26;04 - 00;02;47;16
Somer Overshon
I would say yes, in that we are certainly the largest employer in the region. I think that we are looked to to provide the health care services in this area. So we really do pride ourselves on offering the best possible services we can to the people who are living in our rural communities.

00;02;47;19 - 00;02;56;22
John Supplitt
And would you consider disaster planning in emergency preparedness among those things that the community expects that they might not expect from other smaller hospitals?

00;02;56;25 - 00;03;34;01
Somer Overshon
I don't know that necessarily. The community even realizes that we even think about this stuff. I think that the fact that we're having a conversation about it today is great because we just unfortunately don't live in an environment anymore where we can't consider the possibility that a crisis may occur. So whether or not the community is aware that we have this type of planning going on, I think it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day, I feel proud that we are being proactive enough to do what we need to do and respond in the way that we need to respond so that the people that we serve are getting the information that they need.

00;03;34;26 - 00;03;56;09
John Supplitt
And of course, we all share the concept that it's essential to what we do, especially in terms of natural disaster planning or a medical surge, any of the things that may come forward for which we have to be prepared for, especially as a rural referral center. But I want to begin at the beginning here and that's regarding disaster planning and emergency preparedness.

00;03;56;11 - 00;04;05;07
John Supplitt
Who uses risk communications and to whom are you speaking? That is, who's the audience? Somer, why don't you start?

00;04;05;09 - 00;04;27;14
Somer Overshon
I would say that risk communications really involve almost everybody. So it's looking at individuals, it's looking at organizations, it's looking at groups of people. The fact is, is that people just need to be thinking more about it. I don't know that there is much awareness of what work needs to be done ahead of time then when you are actually in a crisis.

00;04;27;14 - 00;04;53;06
Somer Overshon
So what risk communication does is really focused on preparation. This is the time that you are spending 90% of the time, I would say is in preparation for something that could possibly occur. Now, here's the difference between risk communications and crisis communications. And I think people don't really know what that difference is. So let me share that. A risk is an event that could occur, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it will.

00;04;53;13 - 00;05;19;26
Somer Overshon
There's potential for it, but it may not come to fruition, whereas a crisis is an event that has occurred, You are in the middle of it and you're having to deal with the aftermath of it. So it is very different. I feel that with risk communication, the key here is really doing that preparation work because when you get into the middle of a crisis, you're not going to have time to go back and try to do and gather all of these things together.

00;05;20;03 - 00;05;50;18
Somer Overshon
You really have to act at that point. So I would encourage people to really start thinking about what types of risk is your organization going to have? It could be financial, it could be legal working in health care, it could be a patient issue or a HIPAA violation. We really don't know. There's a vast array of things that could go wrong, really be thinking about what your organization specifically may be inclined to have happen, and then start focusing on how you would address those situations ahead of time.

00;05;50;18 - 00;05;59;22
Somer Overshon
So that when you are in the middle of an actual crisis, you can really focus on getting the information out that you've already prepared to the people that need to know it.

00;05;59;24 - 00;06;15;04
John Supplitt
Well, thanks, Somer. So much of the disaster management cycle is about preparing and planning then and as communication professionals. Somer, who is the emergency management team at Phelps? And then how do you work together?

00;06;15;07 - 00;06;49;05
Somer Overshon
We call it our emergency operations center and the individuals that are part of this group come together and work ahead of time. We really try to reenact potential situations that could go that could occur, rather, And these are some tabletop exercises that we do. We may work through some sort of active shooter situation, a mass casualty situation, maybe it's a cybersecurity situation or like we've recently went through some sort of health and wellness or pandemic sort of situation.

00;06;49;07 - 00;07;17;10
Somer Overshon
So there's a multitude of people that represent on this committee. And basically it is when a crisis occurs, normal operations are going to shut down, so the emergency operations are going to take over. So everything that normally happens within our organization stops and all operations are funneled through this team. So you have your infinite commander who is really leading all of the initiatives, everything that's going on and happening.

00;07;17;12 - 00;07;42;05
Somer Overshon
They are making sure that all of their all of the people that are reporting up to them are getting the things done that they need to get done. They're really focused on operations. You have people from facilities, you have people from security, you have people from your nursing unit. And again, we are a little bit bigger. So some of these departments may be outside of the scope of maybe every health care organization, smaller health care organization.

00;07;42;05 - 00;08;09;13
Somer Overshon
But nevertheless, you're going to have somebody with strong operations knowledge as your Incident Command. You're going to have somebody that's going to handle facilities and security and things of that nature. You're going to have your IT component, so people that are handling all of your information technology situations. And then the part where I come in is that I am the primary information officer or the public information officer, CIO for short.

00;08;09;15 - 00;08;32;24
Somer Overshon
And my role within the emergency operations center is to really coordinate and lead the development and the dissemination, I would say, of communication strategies that we need to convey. This is critical information that we need to get out either to our internal audience or our external audience or goal. So all of the information that is coming in and from the organization is coming through me.

00;08;32;27 - 00;09;00;29
Somer Overshon
So I serve in that capacity. Page is my backup when I'm not able to to perform in that manner. And then I'm also going to work with key stakeholders to develop crisis communication plans. We're going to establish protocols for communicating with the media because that's another aspect that you've got to consider. And then we're also going to start monitoring and responding to rumors and misinformation, because in the middle of a crisis, there are going to be rumors and misinformation circulating and you want to try to get ahead of that as well.

00;09;01;01 - 00;09;19;19
John Supplitt
Great. Thanks very much, Somer.  At our recent Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, we convened leaders for emergency response and you presented on establishing trust strategies for rural health care communications during a crisis. Paige, what makes this so important? How is trust earned?

00;09;19;21 - 00;09;41;07
Paige Marsolais-Heitman
Yeah, that's a great question. How is trust earned and why is it so important? I'm going to start off with the first section of that. How is trust earn process earn with all of those different stakeholders, whether it's community members or your employees themselves, by communicating consistently and authentically and also truthfully with your brand. It's really important regardless of what type of organization you have.

00;09;41;07 - 00;10;01;26
Somer Overshon
And I know we're health care specific to make sure that you're hitting those three points so that you build that relationship ahead of time with all of those different stakeholders. Now, the reason for us is so important whenever we talk about crisis communications is you have that free established relationship built so people look to you as a source of truth and knowledge.

00;10;01;29 - 00;10;12;26
John Supplitt
Thanks so much. And then within the context of the framework you use during COVID 19, Somer, tell us what it was that you used and and why it was so important.

00;10;12;29 - 00;10;38;25
Somer Overshon
Sure. So the framework with that we used is called the message map and really, if there's one thing that I would have people take away from this conversation today on how to start their own communications plan, it is to utilize a message map. And what a message map is, it's a tool that ensures that you have the right messaging ready for your audience and that the messages that you're using are consistent and easily understandable.

00;10;38;27 - 00;11;07;27
Somer Overshon
So when you are working through this message map, you are making sure and really allowing you and your team and ultimately your organization to move quickly. So when it comes to communicating out that information, you're able to move out and pull yourself out front and establish yourself as the authority page referenced earlier with that, establishing trust. So having a message map ready ahead of time  - and this is when I go back to that preparation piece - this is what I'm talking about.

00;11;07;27 - 00;11;34;07
Somer Overshon
Having these message maps readily available will allow you to really almost, I would hope, decrease the initial stress and panic that you may experience as the primary spokesperson for an organization in a crisis on how you are going to respond and what you're going to say. At this point in a crisis, you really shouldn't be thinking about what are you going to say or how you're going to respond?

00;11;34;09 - 00;11;37;06
Somer Overshon
Because frankly, if you are, it's really too late.

00;11;37;12 - 00;12;06;03
John Supplitt
And that's important advice. And we're going to come back to that again a little bit later. What I want to talk about now is that strong cross-sector partnership that's necessary to support a more coordinated response and recovery, while also providing value to all that are involved outside of an emergency. And Paige, are there certain risk communication strategies that you used during your response to COVID 19 that are being integrated into your organization's emergency plans or protocols for future emergencies?

00;12;06;05 - 00;12;29;05
Paige Marsolais-Heitman
Absolutely. There are like summaries that if you take any anything from this, it's to start the conversation today and to start having those meetings with those different key stakeholders. Outside of COVID 19, what we really learned is that while we were able to respond efficiently and quickly and in a consistent, authentic manner, we still weren't as prepared as we even wanted to be.

00;12;29;12 - 00;12;49;15
Paige Marsolais-Heitman
One of the huge takeaways from us is that we are now in the process of developing a very robust risk communication strategy and framework, and that's really for us going to serve as what I'm going to call an evergreen toolkit that we continue to go back to. So for example, within that toolkit, we might be talking about tornadoes or an active shooter drill.

00;12;49;22 - 00;13;11;13
Paige Marsolais-Heitman
So what we'll be able to do is define all of those different outlets, whether it be additional like newspapers or radio or digital, like we're doing social media ads, maybe we're putting out posts or podcasts to communicate all that information. So for us, it's a work in progress. But our biggest takeaway is to start building that framework now so we can be prepared.

00;13;11;15 - 00;13;34;11
John Supplitt
Great. Thanks very much. I want to go back to the conversation we were having about scale, and many rural hospitals and health systems lack the resources and staff like you have at Phelps Health. For example, Somer, you’re a PIO, and we know that small community hospitals, critical access hospitals won't be able to staff at that level. So I want to know where should they begin?

00;13;34;13 - 00;13;40;11
John Supplitt
What is fundamental for success in a disaster management and emergency preparedness scheme?

00;13;40;13 - 00;14;06;01
Somer Overshon
I would say for rural hospitals and health systems that are small and have limited resources available, I think a great starting place would be to start establishing those strong relationships with your local groups and organizations ahead of time as well. So think about the people that are going to be responding to the crisis and/or working alongside of you should a crisis occur in your organization.

00;14;06;04 - 00;14;26;17
Somer Overshon
So these are individuals that are going to be your local health department, your police, your fire, EMS, all of those entities are going to be working heavily to get through this crisis with you. Reach out to those people and find out who they are ahead of time. Again, the last thing you want to do is be in the middle of a crisis.

00;14;26;17 - 00;14;46;17
Somer Overshon
And if you keep stressing this enough because you don't want to be calling somewhere the day of and not really know who you need to talk to you. By that point, all of those things that you put in place, you need to clearly understand who you're communicating with and they know who you are as well so they can reach out to you deep and collaborate and coordinate on your information.

00;14;46;19 - 00;14;59;26
John Supplitt
Great. Thanks very much. And so reflecting then on your experiences over these past three years, Somer, can you share with our listeners what you've learned that may shape your approach towards risk communications for the next disaster or emergency?

00;14;59;29 - 00;15;18;13
Somer Overshon
Of course. And I want to reiterate what Paige said to you, that it is a work in progress. You know, we are talking today about this and we may be ahead of some organizations, but we are by no means to a point where I feel like, okay, I feel good about this. I think there's always work to be done with this.

00;15;18;13 - 00;15;42;18
Somer Overshon
I think there's always going to be revisions to this and I just hope that people start taking it seriously because it does need to be an ongoing part of thinking through what and how you are going to respond. So I would say that really think about who your audience is going to be if you were to have a crisis.

00;15;42;20 - 00;16;04;19
Somer Overshon
Think about all of those people and what they want to hear or how they like to receive their information. I like to think of my mom or my grandparents. We work in health care. We're used to certain terminology. Your average person is not. So if my mom was going to receive information that I am trying to really make sure that people understand, how would she understand it?

00;16;04;23 - 00;16;41;07
Somer Overshon
So take it down to that level and then also really think about coordination between departments within your organization. Not only do you need to have strong communicators that are leading your external efforts, but you also need health care leaders put in place that can communicate effectively with that person who is trying to disseminate that information. So as CIO, I really rely on all of these other department directors to get me the information that I needed a timely manner so that I can then push it out where I need to push it out.

00;16;41;10 - 00;17;16;02
Somer Overshon
You also want to really look at technology like Paige has mentioned and think about the platforms that people like to receive their information on certain demographics prefer certain ways of getting their information, think through all of those areas. And then really focus on preparedness again. I feel like I keep saying the same things, but I think it's so important to really invest in training and preparation and you're really going to be able to strengthen everything as a whole because you're going to feel more confident should something occur because you're already you've already gone through these scenarios.

00;17;16;02 - 00;17;30;25
Somer Overshon
Now, that doesn't mean that during a crisis it's going to play out exactly the way you planned for in your little notebook or whatever you have. But it does mean that you have some framework that you can make modifications to. And then quickly push out.

00;17;30;27 - 00;17;58;07
John Supplitt
Somer, that's very good advice from lessons learned during the COVID 19 pandemic. I want to thank our leaders from Phelps Health, our subject matter experts. Somer Overshon, associate vice president of Strategic Communications, and Paige Marsolais-Heitman , director of Marketing and Public Relations. This is John Supplitt And you've been listening to Strengthen Risk Communications and Rural Health Care for Emergency Response and AHA Advancing Health Podcast.

00;17;58;11 - 00;18;33;18
Tom Haederle
Presented as part of Cooperative Agreement 5 HITEP210047-02-00, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The Health Research & Educational Trust, an American Hospital Association 501(c)(3) nonprofit subsidiary, is a proud partner of this Cooperative Agreement. The contents of this webpage are solely the responsibility of the Health Research & Educational Trust and its partners and do not necessarily represent the official policies or views of the Department of Health and Human Services or of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. Further, any mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.