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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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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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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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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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May 23, 2011

Photo courtesy

Kansas City Star 9 Not For Reuse – March 23, 2015

Joplin Recovery

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Joplin Recovery

Photo courtesy: AP/Tulsa World - Adam Wisneski 11

Not For Reuse – March 23, 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

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Joplin Recovery

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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

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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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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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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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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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“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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Mobile Hospital

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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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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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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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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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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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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