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Casey Young

Dr. Perreault

Crisis Plan for Cabarrus Eye Center phone outage

COM 3312-101 Summer Session 1

11 June 2018
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Table of Contents:

Introduction 3

Acknowledgements 4

Rehearsal Dates 5

Purpose and Objectives 6

Key Publics 7

Notifying Publics 8

The Crisis Team 9

Emergency Personnel and Local Officials 10

Key Media 11

Spokesperson 12

Crisis Communication Control Center 13

Equipment and Supplies 14

Pre-Gathered Information 15

Key Messages 16

Website 17

Blogs and Social Media 18

Trick Questions 19

Prodromes 20

Other Related URLs 21

Evalutaion Form 22
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Introduction:

This crisis plan has been developed in order to assist the employees and management of

Cabarrus Eye Center in the event that a crisis should occur. This plan should be used as a guide

in the event that there is a phone outage during the workday within the organization. It was

developed with the specific needs of Cabarrus Eye Center in mind, bearing the best options and

ideas in mind. Failure to follow this plan and specific instructions could lead to confusion and

chaos. The ideas are well-developed and thought out in order to give Cabarrus Eye Center the

best possible strategy for dealing with a wide array of crises. As phones and phone calls are

essential as a part of operations for both internal and external operations, this plan has been

developed with that in mind and should be followed.

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Acknowledgments:

Kristy Simpson

Joann Freeman

Christina Young
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Rehearsal Dates:

This plan is to be discussed once yearly at a board meeting. It is crucial to the successful

execution of this plan that it be kept up to date and looked over closely at least annually. Because

the phones and technology capacity are constantly changing, it is of upmost importance that the

crisis team look over this report yearly and make adjustments and/or changes as necessary.
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Purpose and Objectives:

In a crisis, such as computer failure or a phone outage, it is imperative to be honest and upfront

about what is going on. Patients and employees must be kept in the loop and up to date with the

latest and most accurate information provided to them as promptly as possible by the crisis team.

Objectives include:

1)   Being viewed as a company with the upmost care and responsibility for the safety of their

patients

2)   To be a company which is compassionate and accurate in statements made both on social

media and to the media

3)   To confirm information is timely and accurate when communicated to the public

4)   To contact all patients with immediate appointments as quickly as possible should a

phone outage occur

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Key Publics:

Cabarrus Eye Center serves a variety of people in the greater Concord area. The key publics in a

crisis include the board of directors/owners (doctor’s), patients (stakeholder’s), and staff. These

main three groups make the daily operations happen and are the most important people to contact

during a phone outage. A list of all key publics are as follows:

•   Board members (enabling publics)

•   Share holders (enabling publics)

•   Customers (functional publics)

•   Financial partners (enabling publics)

•   Administrative staff (functional publics)

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Notifying Publics:

The first person contacted at the company should be the board members and owners, along with

the administrator and assistant administrator. These people are at the top of the chain of

command and have communication with people across the company and office. They interact

and instruct people form every department on a daily basis and should be the first people to go to

during a crisis. The spokesperson will be the assistant administrator, who will serve as the

contact and “face” of the company during a crisis. The board members and administration should

be the “go-to” people in times of crisis and should direct the rest of the staff. A message should

be sent out via Facebook from administration should a phone outage occur. An alert should also

be posted on the website.

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The Crisis Team:

The crisis team will be made up of Kristy Simpson, assistant administrator, Joann Freeman,

director of insurance, and Christina Young, administrator. These main three people should

directly relay information to the board of directors/owners (the doctor’s). They should consult

about what information should be relayed to patient’s (and how), should a crisis such as a phone

or computer outage occur. Because Cabarrus Eye Center does not employ any people to do PR

directly, these are the people who should be consulted and direct information internally and

externally.
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Emergency Personnel and Local Officials:

Concord Police- (704) 920-5000

Concord Fire- (704) 920-5516

Town Manager- Lloyd Payne; (704) 920-5215

Mayor- J. Scott Padgett

Mitel Phone Company- 1(800) 722-1301

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Key Media:

During a crisis, Cabarrus Eye Center should contact the following local media:

WBTV Charlotte- (704) 374-3500

WCNC Charlotte- (704) 329-3636

WSOC Charlotte- (704) 338-9999

Independent Tribune- (704) 782-3155

Salisbury Post- (704) 797-7678

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Spokespersons for Related Organizations:

Cabarrus Pediatric Clinic- (704) 403-7720

Dermatology Group of the Carolinas- (704) 784-5901

Horizon Eye Care- (704) 892-1000

North East Hospital- (704) 403-3000

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Crisis Communication Control Center:

The control center will be in the conference room of building A at Cabarrus Eye Center. Located

adjacent to the surgery center, it connects the main offices to the doctor’s offices and provides

the easiest and most private, spacious access for all of the crisis team to meet. 201 Le Phillip

Court NE, Concord, NC 28025.

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Equipment and Supplies:

•   Chairs/conference room table

•   White board

•   Computers

•   Printers

•   Telephones

•   Cell phones

•   Company letterhead, pens, and pencils

•   Press kits

•   Contact lists for local media and local officials

•   Food and beverages

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Pre Gathered Information:

NEWS RELEASE

DATE:

CONTACT:

(name/phone number)

FURTHER DETAILS will be released by (name of crisis

team member) at a news conference scheduled for (time

of news conference) at 201 Le Phillip Court NE, Concord, NC 28025 in the conference room.

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Key Messages:

The Cabarrus Eye Center phone system went down today at approximately (time). The

technology team is working diligently to fix the outage.

Even with the outage, all patients should still report to their appointments as scheduled. The

Cabarrus Eye team is ready to see patients.

We apologize for any inconvenience, as we know how disruptive it is for our phone lines to go

down.

If you have an emergency and cannot get a hold of us, please come in right a way to be examined

by a doctor, as your health is our top priority.

We thank you for your patience in dealing with this matter. We are working as hard as we can to

get our phones up as soon as possible.

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Website:

URL: https://www.cabarruseye.com

Cabarrus Eye Center is a large, multi-specialty office in Concord, North Carolina. The doctors

and staff at Cabarrus Eye Center strive to make your visit the best it can possibly be. With 10

different doctors and a wide array of specialties, you can find everything you need right here at

home. From permanent eye liner, to LASIK, to cataract removal, our doctor’s are the best at

what they do.

Call Cabarrus Eye Center at (704) 782-1127 to schedule your appointment today. Cabarrus Eye

Center also features a highly trained staff in the optical shop who can help you pick out the

perfect pair of sunglasses for your Summer vacations. They are also highly trained in helping to

fill your contact prescriptions and can help you pick out the perfect frames after your visit.
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Blogs and Social Media:

We will monitor:

Facebook- Due to the large amount of patients who use our page. www.facebook.com.

Yelp- Because of the reviews our patients post. www.yelp.com

Twitter- To see who is saying what during a crisis. www.twitter.com.

Mitel- Our phone provider, in case it is a company-wide outage. https://www.mitel.com.

Horizon Eye Care- Direct competitor. https://www.horizoneye.com.

Cabarrus Pediatrics- Located down the road, share patients.

https://www.carolinashealthcare.org/locations/Cabarrus-Pediatrics.

Dermatology Group of the Carolinas- Located down the road, share patients.

https://www.dermgroupnc.com.

Carolinas HealthCare System NorthEast- Local hospital located across the street.

https://www.carolinashealthcare.org/locations/carolinas-healthcare-system-northeast.

Tronitech- Houses some of our electronic medical records. https://www.tronitech.com/touch-

chart-impact-md-emr-conversion/.

Novant Health Lakeside Primary Care- Local doctor’s office in Concord.

nhlakesideprimarycare.org.
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Trick Questions:

If the media asks:

“What does your company do?”, provide them with a media kit.

“What caused this outage to happen? What are you doing to fix it?”, answer each part in order as

a separate question.

“Would you call the phone system here up-to-date?”, only say yes if you agree and the phones

have been replaced within the last 4 years.

“Why didn’t you inspect the phones before this happened?”, don’t get defensive. Think about

your answer and tell them what has been done to make the phone system the best it can be.

“You haven’t gotten new phones in over five years, right?”, tell them the correct number and

don’t let them fool you into saying ‘yes’ to the wrong information and facts.
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Prodromes:

1.   Several patients report that they had to try several times to get through to the phone

people when it typically takes one try. Make sure the signals are going through on the

company’s end.

2.   Phone lines are not busy and ringing as much as they usually are. Make sure the system is

all connected and that the switchboard is in tact and ready to go.

3.   The phones haven’t been replaced in 10+ years. Look into replacing some of, if not all of,

the phones to ensure all calls get answered and the system is working properly.
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Other Related URL’s:

Medicare offices- Due to the large volume of patients on Medicare. http://medicare.gov.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services- Because this is a medical office.

https://www.ncdhhs.gov.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- In case something goes wrong during the office

phone outage, can contact via cell phone. https://www.cdc.gov.

Medicaid offices- Same reason as Medicare. https://www.medicaid.gov.

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Evaluation Form:

What went wrong? How can we prevent this from happening in the future?

What would have made dealing with this crisis better? Suggestions for the future?

Other comments on your experience internally with this crisis?