OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Managing Media in the Face of a Crisis T
By Lisa Rabasca Roepe
he adage that “the best defense is a good offense,” is certainly true in sports, war, and an emergency situation.
Developing a media response plan before an incident even occurs will go a long way in preventing an emergency from becoming a full-blown crisis that dominates the news cycle. “Know your risks and what threats are facing your business so you aren’t plan- ning it in the midst of it,” says Brian Ellis, a former broadcast journalist who is now executive vice president for Padilla public relations and teaches crisis management at Virginia Commonwealth University. While it’s unlikely that a senior living
company or community will have to deal with a crisis the magnitude of the 2013 Target data breach or the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal, there are still situations that senior living leaders need to be pre- pared to address, such as natural disasters, instances of elder abuse, missing residents, and food contamination. “Don’t go in the bunker and hide,” Ellis says. “Proactively go out and manage the issue.” The extreme weather of 2017 and a
trifecta of storms—Harvey, Irma, and Maria—led several senior living com- munities to dust off their crisis communi- cations plans or create one, if they didn’t already have one in place. When a senior living community affected by Hurricane Harvey lost power and was then at risk for flooding, community leaders worked with Steve Wujek, director of public relations at GlynnDevins, a firm that provides ad- vertising and marketing solutions to senior living communities. The community was working to restore power when it learned the Army Corp of Engineers was planning to release water from the local reservoir and, as a result, the community would be at risk for flooding. Although the water was released, the flooding was minimal and only
the community’s parking lot and lobby area were affected, Wujek says. In a situation like this, it’s hard to pre-
dict what will happen so you need to be prepared to communicate in the moment regardless of the circumstances, Wujek says. Before Hurricane Harvey even hit, the community immediately added a section to its homepage that allowed it to quickly update residents and their family members as events unfolded. The website is often the first place family members will go for infor- mation, Wujek says. Just make sure there is also a direct phone number and email that people can contact for more information, he adds.
Before the crisis Before a crisis even occurs, it’s important to develop a crisis management plan that outlines who will be on the crisis team to
36 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
gather information and facts, assess the cur- rent situation, and prepare core messages based on the facts that you have, Wujek says. The crisis management plan will also spell out the appropriate ways to dissemi- nate information, including who will be the spokesperson and how employees should respond if the media contacts them. The plan should also include a clear social media policy for employees to follow. Any crisis management plan should also
spell out what staff should do if they find out about a potential problem, such as an elder abuse or staff incident, a missing resident, or food contamination. “Staff should alert senior management, including the com- munications team; learn exactly what hap- pened; and prepare a statement that either explains what happened, or that let’s others know they are aware of the incident and looking into it, and that they will release a
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