CRA Inc

14 Jun 03 @ 9:04 pm

Linking External and Internal Crisis Communication

Despite pressure from local and national press and concerned citizens, employees at Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Marshfield Clinic have remained silent. The healthcare centers handling the monkeypox cases in Wisconsin have asked employees to respect company and federal privacy requirements and direct media inquiries to the corporate communication group.

From the Marshfield News Herald…

However, all clinic employees received a company-wide e-mail on Friday demanding they answer no questions from the media without corporate permission, several clinic employees told the Marshfield News-Herald. The clinic’s corporate communication department refused to share the e-mail when asked, saying it was an internal communication.

The letter from Gribble told employees, “I was also asked to remind everyone that the media has been and will be calling the clinic and reporting on this story in the hours and days to come. Please direct all media inquiries to corporate communications … In other words, do not give out information to the media unless you first check with corporate communications.”
Gribble told employees the clinic wanted to ensure the calls were a “legitimate inquiry” because “we’ve had experience in the past with deceptive practices.”

It appears that employees are following the system’s wishes and allowing the communication group to handle all requests–little information related to patients suffering from monkeypox has reached the press.

posted in category(s): Points of Interest