How Can Healthcare Leaders Best Prepare for Coronavirus? Prepare to Effectively Communicate!

By Alan Kahn, Early March, 2020

This isn’t my first rodeo. While I have the same feelings of ominous dread that everyone in Western New York has, the Coronavirus epidemic seems to me like just one of the many similar situations I’ve faced before. A little different, but not new. If you think about it, as healthcare executives, it’s not so different than the myriad challenges we face every day; the ones that at first can seem too overwhelming to imagine…just maybe this time there is a bit more of a global perspective to it.

One truth I can share is that outbreaks like Coronavirus are not only a test of our technical medical preparedness, but they are also really a test of the overall human condition. This is a trial of how we choose to communicate, both rationally and emotionally. It is a test of how we as individual healthcare executives can excel in a time of crisis to reduce fear when our patients and community face the potentially overwhelming specter of ill health and possible death—which, if you think about it, is basically our daily job. Out of everybody on the planet, we are the people most-skilled to handle this communication, to reduce anxiety, to get our patients, (meaning everyone in the community), through this.

According to Dr. Paul Ekman, and so many scholars of human emotion, we now know that it is easy for the chemicals in our minds to significantly change in situations like a global pandemic. We take in the slight negative sensation of knowing that there’s a non-fully understood supervirus out there killing thousands around the world, and instantly blow that up in our minds in terms of time, space, and how it relates to us. As the virus spreads, we must realize it isn’t hard for even the strongest and most capable amongst us to get caught up in at least some level of panic, in a very short amount of time. Think back to all those classic memorable Hollywood horror movies which pray upon this deep human fear—knowing that the monster is out there lurking, but just not knowing when and where it will strike. Think Freddy, Jason, Jaws, a thing that lives in ‘A Quiet Place.’ This fear works its brain magic especially well in today’s social media age, where the calming leadership communications we seek are mixed with the deluge of information flow; whereby facts are co-mingled with…well, other bits of ‘fake’ information, all delivered through the prism of the messenger’s perspective.

It can kind of work like this up in our minds: If they get this virus so easily over there, then it is going to spread over here, and if it spreads here, we are all going to get it, and I don’t trust that anybody knows clearly what to do about it…and if we know some die, so then we are all going to die, or at least I am going to be the one to die…so if I am going die, I might as well pack it in now, not take any positive action, and just wait around to die.

It is horrible to live this way, let alone work in a healthcare organization surrounded by people feeling this way. This isn’t simply our patients I am referring to that can have such feelings, it can be true of family members, our co-workers, and really just about anyone we affect in our daily lives. This is how the mind works. In our limbic system, fear is really a response that’s evolved in our brains over millennia, much more advanced than our logical brain activity, to warn us about just these types of dangerous situations, unexpected obstacles or failures. We don’t feel fear in order to feel distressed, but rather, fear helps us navigate potential danger successfully. Embracing the fear of Coronavirus and bringing it back down to the level of daily manageability, chipping away in little pieces, can be the best way to move forward. So, the crisis is here, how do you want to be defined in this moment of truth? One can either run and hide, or one can embrace the fear, using it to communicate effectively. Now is the time for all good and brave individuals to come to the aid of your community. What will you do?

You see, I feel I am in a position to ask such questions and to share a thing or two about going through an epidemic. Previously leading communications for China’s largest private foreign-invested healthcare organization, I realized the importance of information flow in such a crisis. After personally dealing with my family’s quarantine and loss of friends during the SARS epidemic in my chosen home of Beijing during the bleak 2002-2003 winter, I can tell you that there will be rough times ahead—for the course of this Coronavirus outbreak and even with others yet to arise. Going through H1N1, H5N7, Bird Flu, Swine Flu and just about every flu out there over the years, I have come to learn how we as healthcare workers can deal with the widespread panic and fear brought about when an outbreak like Covid-19 occurs. I now know that by staying positive and staying focused on what’s always the most important—our families and our community—we will most certainly get through this together.

Eventually, a day will come when we will sit in the sun and tell stories to those younger about that crazy Coronavirus year. When that day comes, what actions do you hear yourself talking about the actions you took to pull your patients, colleagues, and family through it all? How did you lead or contribute to make a difference for those around you? Just visualizing the future in a positive way can start you on the right path to action.

When there is general social anxiety, mob mentality, and just plain soul-freezing fear, it is our ability to communicate the ‘positive emotion’ of healthcare, just as much if not more than how we communicate the science of healthcare, that fuels us towards the light at the end of what can seem like a long dark tunnel. Indeed, the companies I worked with that came out the other side of SARS, Bird Flu, and other epidemics by staying optimistically curious about the future, thinking how best to position themselves, are some of the most successful ones today.

We already have seen champions in our community out in the lead. At the very earliest stages of the global outbreak, The University of Buffalo was giving press conferences and had a video made about Coronavirus. UB stressed to everyone in our community that this virus doesn’t know race, and very specifically detailed how they are ‘helping all their stakeholders’ in Western New York and abroad to get whatever resources they need. Their leadership will someday make a great case study of how to communicate effectively to Buffalonians in a crisis. Roswell Park’s incredible CEO, Candance Johnson, has repeatedly demonstrated her leadership by focusing on what Roswell can do to help test people in Western New York for the virus, long before the first test was conducted, while also explaining clearly to her own employees in a reassuring manner how they are protecting their safety. So many of our community leaders are stepping up in big ways at this time, we just need to pull our heads out from under our pillows and see their example to begin the road to positive action.

Every healthcare related organization should, at this time, be focusing just as much time and energy on communications preparedness as on the number of face masks you are prepared to utilize. Maybe even more so. Be prepared to wade through all the conspiracy theories, blame, and fear. If you are a leader, step up, and if you are a supporting a leader, then come up with great ideas to help. Your patients, your community, your neighbors and friends are counting on you.

The following are three ways to think about how to be a communications leader during Coronavirus:

1)   Prepare like the military prepares: Decide upon and vigorously train now for the very worst-case scenario that you, your colleagues, and your loved ones might just face. Then work back from there to where you are today. Not only train the health workers and clinicians, but ‘everybody’ in your company on what you will do to fight the spread of the virus, and to care for everyone’s safety, should the worst really happen. Think through what happens if employees should become infected, if leadership should be taken out, and put in place all the steps needed to make sure there is no room for the fog of war to creep in. Make sure you have in place whatever ‘war rooms,’ break rooms, supplies, supply chains, and all the snacks needed—so that nobody gets overwhelmed should your fellow employees start to deal with a crushing number of people with Covid-19. You train for the worst, so that everyone in your organization has the muscle memory to know what to do should the worst really present itself. Be ready with all steps you might take and all precautions you are willing to do, then put them in place NOW on a piece of paper. Finally, get confirmation from your board and all your key people in leadership that these are exactly the steps you will take, understanding that different levers can be pulled during different levels of the crisis—as the fast-moving situation shifts over time. Ensure you are also are in lockstep with the key healthcare authorities. Once you have those protocols in place, have learned (after much practice) what works well, along with a decision on the correct spokespersons to deliver the messages, you are ready to communicate clearly and effectively to everyone in the community. Just like our brave members of the United States military, even though you train harder than anyone else in the world in preparing to fight this war, let’s hope the war never comes!

2)   Communicate both rationally and emotionally: What do we do best as healthcare workers? We empathize incredibly well while finding scientific solutions! We must play to our strengths—understanding both the art and the science of healthcare. We work with cancer patients facing the worst, we work with people about to go into major surgery, we work with people at home facing old age…and ‘all of us’ in healthcare are the ones best suited to know how to deal with fear. So, let’s use our skills! Encourage people to be positive through rational reassurance and emotional support. Those of us with scientific degrees may feel more comfortable talking about the technical and medical aspects of Coronavirus. Yet, it is important to push oneself to also use the tone and the messaging of comfort used every day when talking with anxious patients. Also, vice-versa, those more used to communicating the warm and feeling part of patient care, must remember to also be caught up on the latest science of what your company is doing, and why. We must continually put ourselves in the shoes of those that simply don’t understand viruses, don’t know about the science of it all, and are only watching the scary videos with a flood of negativity coming from the screen right in the palm of their hand. Also realize that your fellow healthcare workers are often the most scared of anyone, as they see themselves directly on the front lines.

3)   Lead with care: Help the public by ‘leading’ the messaging with care, communicating all your company’s strengths with true feelings of empathy at the very beginning. Just remember that in a crisis you should always use all the “C’s" of a communication to show:

1. Care (and Compassion and Concern), which should always be the first statement. It has to be more than ‘thoughts and prayers,’ but rather your display of care must really come from the heart, because it is likely you do care very much, so make it show. 
2. Competence (and certainty) to detail what your people are doing about the situation and why they will be able to get the job done, keeping people safe.
3. Credibility (and confidence and control), which you will project when you focus on number 2 above and you constantly describe why your actions are the right ones to take, listing out the rich experience of the people making those decisions.
4. Capability (and collaboration), demonstrating that you have all the resources it takes to get the job done.
5. Commitment (and cooperation), to explain not only what you are doing now, but what you will be doing together with the community well into the future, even after the direness of the situation is reduced.

Or you can substitute in other good “C” words or similar concepts that the great PR firms of the world say should be used in such a situation. Prepare to ‘over communicate’ these C’s to all your stakeholders, answering all questions to the best of your ability.

You will be noticed for how well you are ‘leading’ the fight and for being out in front when messaging against Coronavirus in Western New York by simply brainstorming positive communication tactics, the same as you might do in other daily situations. Some ideas could include creating small infographics, soundbites, and clear directions that can be used in brief social media posts. Have your virus experts educate schools, officials, and the media. Communicate to your staff in a video town hall. The list is endless for good actions that can be taken right now.

My former hospital system in China, during the early stages of the outbreak put out a slew of communications to the public. These included infographics that went far beyond the 20 second hand wash, to how to keep bathrooms clean, how to pay attention to food safety, what to do if you are pregnant and worried, and dozens of other topics to visually show how to stop the spread of the virus. They also organized donations to areas that needed it, created a video shared with the staff and outside community of how they were supporting each other, and even set up a daytime free info hotline staffed by clinicians giving out publicly posted information. These are all great ideas you can steal for actions you might want to take at this time. Or even better, come up with your own that reflect your organization.

A few examples of United Family Healthcare communications from December, 2019 on.

Be the champion of positivity. We will all get through this together! Buffalo is the city of good neighbors. We Western New Yorkers seem define ourselves by a genuine willingness to unite in support of each other when things are difficult. Realize that Covid-19 is a crisis—that’s it, just a current crisis—with a lasting time period and an eventual end to panic as time goes on. My good friends in China who have been cooped up for weeks barely going outside, are now starting to circulate more frequently, as no new cases are being reported in their areas. As the numbers of new cases go down, they are thinking about where they will be traveling this summer and how they can use what they have learned to propel everything forward in their lives and with their companies: Distance learning, better online services, improved safety, better hygiene, stronger communication with immediate and extended family, and just generally how to lead a richer life. Indeed, they are starting to come out the other end and realizing how precious life is—spurring all kinds of positivity. This will happen here too.

Let’s all realize that if we must face the challenge of a crisis like Coronavirus, that there is no better place to be on the planet than right here Western New York. We are the best community to support each other. We as healthcare leaders need to lead the charge to be positive, effective, and caring. We have to communicate this in everything we do over the next few weeks and months. Together, we in healthcare are the ones that can do it.

Let’s get our Western New York community through this thing.