H1N1 Pandemic; Fears before Facts – what you needed to know

I am not a Doctor. I am not employed by any Medical company.
But because of the fears of the H1N1 ‘Swing Flu’ pandemic, I have had to do a lot of my own research to ensure that I remain healthy. And I’m sure you and many of your friends and families have done the same.

Why? Because the people who we elected to ensure the health and safety of the citizens of our country failed to do their job. They failed to control the message, they failed to provide reliable information on the flu strain, and they failed to inform me (the public) on the safety or effects of getting the flu shot. They simply failed.

Where could this have been corrected? Let’s start at the beginning.
The WHO (World Health Organization) has been talking about a Global Pandemic for years, but it was about 18 months ago when their tone changed. No longer were they talking about ‘if’ there would be a concern but ‘when’ there this would be a concern. And what were our Governments doing to prepare for this Global infection? From what we’re seeing now in many parts of Canada – nothing.

Surely someone started to prepare an Emergency Crisis plan. Surely, emergency meetings were called to discuss a crisis management strategy. What are we going to say? How are we going to get the messages out? How are we going to ensure that one message is being delivered at all times? How are we going to ensure the public will not panic? Was this done? Perhaps to some degree, but not to the extent that I needed to be.

As a Media Coach, my message to my clients is simple; communicate a message and do not alter from that message. Use every method possible to ensure your message is being delivered accurately and correctly. How do you think they, the people responsible for ensuring the health and safety of millions of Canadians performed? Failure.

From the moment the H1N1 ‘Swine Flu’ became a Pandemic concern, they needed to broadcast timely and consistent messages to everyone, everywhere. We’re talking about the lives of Millions of innocent people. Many of these people are also very web savvy and, like me, have had to look to the net to find useful, up-to-date information because it is not being provided by the traditional Media outlets. Think about it.
A newspaper only publishes daily in large markets – weekly in smaller markets.
TV stations only air Newscasts in the Morning, noon hour, supper hour and late evening
Radio stations run short news casts during the morning shows and very few through the rest of the day.
The internet provides content that is refreshed every second.

So how can you prevent panic when you’re only providing minimal updates to the conventional media when we, as citizens, want updates NOW?

You have to be willing to think outside the box – re-invent the box if you have to, but you can do so while still controlling the main message. First of all, you have to build a team of people that understand the importance of message development and message delivery. Once you get a plan in place, you can then begin broadcasting your message to the ‘web’ of Media that will turn to you for comment. Remember, if you don’t provide the information the public wants when they want it, they will find anyone standing on a street corner to give them the information they are looking for at that moment.

So before Crisis strikes your organization, are you prepared?