The Department 's Crisis Communication Plan

Crisis communication is the most important aspect of external and internal organization communication. This type of communication ranges from image restoration campaigns to employee turnover. In the articles that I have analyzed, I discovered many examples of crisis communications and its importance. I will discuss the Bridgestone-Firestone Corporation's image restoration campaign and explain Benoit's theory of image restoration. Also, I will discuss how crisis communications fits into public relations models. Two examples for discussion will be how supervisors should convey bad-news to their employees, and group communication within employee turnover. My last example for this discussion will be Bill Clinton's image repair discourse.

Establishment of a chain of command in a situation such as a severe storm or other disaster is essential. Because there may be a disruption to commonly used manners of communication, such as television, telephones, and the internet, it is important to have a clear outline of where and to whom to report, how to find answers, and who will perform necessary tasks. In the simulation, the Public Health Department is both a link in the larger, county-wide chain of command and has its own hierarchy structure. Within the scope of the county, the Public Health Department reports to the Medical/Health Branch Director who is directly under the Operations Chief. The Operations Chief, who is in charge of managing and monitoring the actions of each department, reports to the Emergency Operations Commander. The Emergency Operations commander is the highest link in the chain, not only overseeing the operations of the various governmental departments, but also the officers in charge of Safety, Public Information, and Legal.

Communication is essential between health care facilities and the CDC. For example, the facilities experience an emergency and follow certain quarantine protocols and alert the local public health department and the CDC. The CDC organizes secure transmission tactics to merge and notify public health officials at local, state, and federal levels. The institute deploys scientific and logistical proficiency, personnel, and vital medical resources to the area of the emergency. The CDC (2012) explains the implementation of the essential medical assets for protection of communities in the state of an emergency:

Supplies could be needed in one area, but without communication that area might not be able to reach out for those supplies. Communication amongst first responders is important for information sharing, so that information can flow between different jurisdictions and agencies. When looking at the efforts of first responders, communication is the one constant variable, which without communication all efforts would be in vain. (Newman & Clarke, 2008) The National Incident Management System (NIMS) places an emphasis on the importance of communication when dealing with response efforts. The National Incident Management System shows how having a unified command systems can benefit the response efforts to disaster. However, without proper and efficient communication, a unified command system cannot proceed efficiently.

Timely and accurate information is essential during a terrorist attack and a natural disaster. Therefore, the government must inform the public of all events. However, officials need to be mindful of the information that is released could expose intelligence in an ongoing investigation and put lives at risk. Crisis communication is a fine line of keeping the public informed and placing them harms

Within the first chapter of Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication (2001), there were many things that caught my attention. Prior to the reading, I hadn’t thought about how different disaster preparedness would affect the elderly population, and how much consideration and planning is needed for them compared to the general population. I also wasn’t aware that such a high percentage of the elderly population developed chronic diseases. It would, however, make sense for the elderly population to require different treatment for these chronic diseases, and have different reactions to these diseases than the rest of the general population (Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication, 2014).

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2008) provides guidance on emergency incident communication. They recommend defining an Area Commander, Public Information Officer, and field level personnel. During an emergency response, an Area Commander is appointed. In the case of Draper City, the Area Commander is the Mayor or the City Manager. The Area Commander coordinates information disseminated through the Public Information Officer and field level personnel. Additional personnel to consider for approval of information include the city council, assistant city manager, police chief, fire chief, and emergency preparedness

The third step is to organize and train a crisis communication team, and establish a crisis communication center. The eight people listed above comprise the crisis communication team along with the Director of Emergency Management (DEM). The DEM shall conduct training exercises throughout the year, which informs the members about their specific assignments and how they will accomplish these responsibilities. Less complicated exercises are discussion based, such as seminars and tabletop exercises; whereas, more complex exercises are operations based, such as drills and full-scale

My findings indicate that the information available is insufficient for accurate and efficient decision-making. For instance, there is no information about agencies who can be requested to assist in addressing surge capacity, suppliers of medical and public health assets, and information concerning how different incidents can be handled. Improving information management will require requesting other agencies and healthcare organizations to offer their assistance through information sharing to boost evidence-based practice. Furthermore, it needs a clear list of possible suppliers of different medical and public health resources during an incident, and a comprehensive database to extract information on the approaches to a particular emergency.

It is vital for officials from all levels of emergency management to collaborate and communicate effectively as they strive to deliver timely response services and effective disaster relief efforts. Otherwise, delays can occur from any number of agencies when responding to disasters. In addition, it is vital to maintain updated contact information for each organization that will be part of the emergency management planning and hold regular meetings with the representatives of each organization (Margaris,

The Public Information Officer using the risk communication protocols will inform community members of service and location change. All health department employees must have the permission of the ACHO, Incident Commander, or designee before speaking to any member of the media about any public health or COOP issues. These procedures are outlined in the Annex 4 – Crisis and Emergency Risk Communications Plan Annex.

An effective crisis management response plan outlines specific procedures for administrator, teachers, and students during evacuation emergencies. Administrators work with teachers, students, parents, law enforcement officers, business and community members, to develop an effective emergency and crises plan. The administrator provides leadership in developing and monitoring the school safety plan and also establishes procedures for emergency evacuation and crisis management at different stages of the plan. However, an effective leader develops a comprehensive prevention education plan, and regularly reviews the code of conduct manual for revisions and current laws.

The emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a central location that any level of government can provide interagency coordination and help resolve administrative decisions that will support the incident response. During a crisis the EOC does not control the on-scene response. The EOC coordinates responding agencies through priority setting, resource management, and information collection and evaluation. A key function of the EOC personnel during a crisis is to make sure that responders at the scene have adequate resources in order to execute their objectives and to manage public information (FEMA, 2010). The flexible and scalable nature of an EOC relies on the mutual aid and joint communications from the participating agencies.

The response to any emergency is considered to be very critical and therefore should be as efficient as possible. In the healthcare sector, responses to situations are counted by the seconds. From natural disasters to epidemics, the only chance left to respond to any of this occurrence could only be counted in seconds. That means life is either saved or lost in a matter of seconds. Putting in place certain responses to these unexpected occurrences, such as crises management communication plan, help save lives and arrest crises from aggravating. Failure to have crises management communication plan is considered by many commentators to be a crisis in itself. Accepted medical care is highly dependent on effective communication between healthcare providers and the patients; among healthcare providers and the outside world. The characteristics of crises make it necessary for prior planning and effective communication among stakeholders in the health sector (Klaene and Sanders, 2006; Ronen, 2006).

If the response is efficient in the event of a crisis relevant, survival to the organization, whether team is prepare or not. The necessary assume for effective work of integrated rescue system is effective communication, which is the base assume for his work. Crisis communication is specific area of communication, which include external and internal progress of organization during crisis situations. Target of this communication is elimination negative effect, which happened, and inform public and all of part with are strike of crisis situation ( Kurhajcová june 2010). Despite all the attention and effort applied to operating safely, the fact remains that accidents do occasionally