Targeting Internal Publics During the 2014 Ebola Outbreak: An Analysis of Kaiser Permanente’s Crisis Communication Strategy

Issues management in today’s quickly changing world can be complex and unpredictable, and in the case of the spread of Ebola, carry lethal implications. Kaiser Permanente (KP) faced a potential internal crisis due to the involvement of medical staff during the spread of the disease in the United States. In addition, KP needed to ensure the safety of the patients the healthcare provider serves. This case study examines how the corporate communications team at KP in Southern California communicated the necessary messages during this crisis in the U.S. in the fall of 2014. The methodology of this case is a textual analysis of the internal corporate communications within Kaiser Permanente during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in the U.S

The Ebola Experience: Media Lessons For Nurse Leaders

Background: In October, 2014 the nursing profession gained unprecedented media attention when two nurses became infected with the Ebola virus, and another nurse who cared for Ebola patients defied two gubernatorial quarantine orders. Nurses have traditionally received little media attention, and the nursing profession was largely unprepared for the intense media scrutiny which occurred during the Ebola crisis. Purpose: For decades nursing scholars have called for a new media image for the nursing profession, yet most of the nursing literature has focused on the profession’s poor media image rather than effective media communication techniques. The purpose of this paper is to review evidence of effective media communication strategies using the Ebola news story as context. Method: An extensive literature search was conducted including evidence of effective public relations strategies as well as identification of media needs during public health crises. The literature was cited in the context of the Ebola news story, in which various developments were compared with evidence of effective crisis communication strategies. Discussion: Various communication missteps as well as contradictory press statements fueled media mistrust and intensified news coverage during the Ebola controversy. As central figures in the Ebola news story, nurses were largely unprepared to effectively respond to the media during the crisis. Conclusion: Nurses could greatly benefit from media training which focuses on effective public health crisis communication techniques as well as identification of media needs during public health crises

The Social and Political Dimensions of the Ebola Response: Global Inequality, Climate Change, and Infectious Disease

The 2014 Ebola crisis has highlighted public-health vulnerabilities in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea – countries ravaged by extreme poverty, deforestation and mining-related disruption of livelihoods and ecosystems, and bloody civil wars in the cases of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola’s emergence and impact are grounded in the legacy of colonialism and its creation of enduring inequalities within African nations and globally, via neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus. Recent experiences with new and emerging diseases such as SARS and various strains of HN influenzas have demonstrated the effectiveness of a coordinated local and global public health and education-oriented response to contain epidemics. To what extent is international assistance to fight Ebola strengthening local public health and medical capacity in a sustainable way, so that other emerging disease threats, which are accelerating with climate change, may be met successfully? This chapter considers the wide-ranging socio-political, medical, legal and environmental factors that have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola, with particular emphasis on the politics of the global and public health response and the role of gender, social inequality, colonialism and racism as they relate to the mobilization and establishment of the public health infrastructure required to combat Ebola and other emerging diseases in times of climate change

Ebola Outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone: Role of Nonmedical Emergency Management Agencies

The 2014 Ebola crisis killed 11,315 people across 6 countries, making it the deadliest crisis globally since the virus was discovered in 1976. However, the roles played by nonmedical emergency management agencies (EMAs) in Liberia and Sierra Leone during that crisis remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to bridge the gap in knowledge by documenting the roles which were played or should have been played by EMAs in Liberia and Sierra Leone in responding to the 2014 Ebola crisis involving policymaking in emergency management (EM). The research questions focused on the roles that were played or should have been played by EMAs in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as similar agencies in West Africa in responding to the Ebola crisis. This study was a generic qualitative inquiry grounded in the functionalist theory. Purposeful sampled interviews with 12 EM experts from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana were used. An inductive thematic analytical approach was used in the data analysis. The results showed that EMAs played crucial roles in coordination, communication, and control of the movement of people. The study also revealed that EMAs should have planned for unfamiliar hazards before the Ebola crisis. Further, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should have ensured the synergy of EM resources of its member states when responding to epidemics that transcend international boundaries. Recommendations of this study include, planning for unfamiliar hazards, and the need for ECOWAS to develop a memorandum of understanding among EMAs of member states. This research provides a blueprint on how EMAs can appropriately respond to unknown epidemics in future to save lives in West Africa

RHM Author Interview: Liz Angeli, Ph.D. and Christina Norwood, M.S., authors of Persuasion Brief: The Internal Rhetorical Work of a Public Health Crisis Response

RHM Author Interview (Youtube video): Liz Angeli, Ph.D. and Christina Norwood, M.S., authors of Persuasion Brief: The Internal Rhetorical Work of a Public Health Crisis Response This persuasion brief suggests that the rhetorical concepts of techne and rhetorical work facilitate the creation of public health crisis communication. To illustrate this claim, we present findings from a case study with the Johns Hopkins Medicine Ebola Crisis Communications Team, a transdisciplinary group that collaborated with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the 2014 Ebola crisis. The team created multimodal documentation to support healthcare providers as they prepared to treat patients and crafted communication to alleviate the fear among health workers and the public caused by the threat of Ebola. Ultimately, we frame public health crisis communication as a rhetorical endeavor guided by a focus on failure, situated expertise, and techne. This focus pushes specialists to tend to the processes involved in creating a response, and it highlights how gut feelings factor into the process of designing and implementing a public health crisis intervention. Angeli, E., Norwood, C. (2019) The Internal Rhetorical Work of a Public Health Crisis Response. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine 2(2): 208-231

Diagnosing an international health crisis: A structural exploration of Ebola 2014

The Ebola crisis of 2014, though concentrated most heavily in three small countries in western Africa, awoke the international community to its lack of effective health crisis infrastructure. As the disease rocked the globe, multinational groups scrambled to help those directly affected and protect the overwhelming majority of people not directly affected. Most preventative measures failed, and pre-existing initiatives to stem the flow of the disease only served to open the floodgates more. After careful examination of the literature surrounding medical, cultural, financial, national, and global circumstances enabling Ebola to flourish, as well as applying individual analysis and examination, it is evident certain changes must be made

Ebola: Africa

In this paper, I talk about the Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. Ebola is a rare virus that spreads through the immune system and can be fatal. Ebola is a pathogen from Africa, specifically West Africa. There has been almost 32,000 cases since 1976. Symptoms include, Fever, Headache, Muscle pain, Fatigue, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Stomach pain, and Bleeding/Bruising. Transmission happens during close or direct contact. World Health Organization has been making efforts to handle outbreaks such as the outbreak in 2014. World Health Organization mobilized and set up relief efforts. Education is a key idea for my thoughts on how we can intervene with the crisis of outbreaks in Africa

View box case-8 Ilio-cecal tuberculosis

This study aims to understand the dynamic evolvement of frames in news media coverage of the Ebola crisis (2014-2015) and their interplay with narratives put forth in governmental organizations’ (GOs) press releases. An automated-content analysis was applied to U.S. newspapers and GOs press releases on the Ebola epidemic. The findings of time series analyses illustrate how the scope of frames in news media becomes narrower (decreased diversity) with the presence of immediate and problem-focused crisis frames and wider (increased diversity) with more progressive frames. Additionally, the results imply that a level of shared interpretation (frame alignment) between media and GOs fosters the openness of news media for a variety of frames, which in turn might lead to a communicative shift that eases the crisis atmosphere

Three Lost Ebola Facts and Public Health Legal Preparedness

Three key facts about Ebola Transmission should drive policy designed to control the risk of transmission during a crisis. Ebola—like HIV—is not easily transmissible human-to-human. Ebola has “dry” and “wet” symptoms, and only the wet symptoms threaten public health. A fever is Ebola’s canary in a coal mine; it provides timely warning of a coming threat. Yet, during the U.S. Ebola scare in 2014, these three facts were lost. Unnecessary quarantine, stigma, and burden on those exposed to Ebola resulted, including especially for those who volunteered to fight the disease at its source abroad. Tragically, the law permitted these injustices because lawyers, judges, and legal rules also lost track of these key Ebola facts. Thus, public health legal preparedness demands that we do more than clarify relevant legal standards; we must also prepare lawyers and judges to better account for key infectious disease facts during the next emergency

Communicating the Ebola Crisis in West Africa

A comprehensive, reliable public communication before, during, and after a health crisis can save lives, yet critics say the ways that crisis containment policies relating to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak were communicated in West Africa raised anxiety and, in some places, fueled rumors that led to counter-productive behaviors (Ansumana, Bonwitt, Stenger &Jacobsen, 2014). Improved communication by health officials with the media, community leaders, health professionals, and the general public is therefore necessary to reduce misinformation and improve compliance with prevention and control measures. Planning is required to develop and execute communications effectively. This paper tackles in context of Guinea the communication factors and that must be addressed to improve the chances of success in the fight against the EVD.  A desk study from both development communication scholarship and medical practice was conducted to assess the current EVD situation in Guinea. Keywords: Crisis communication, Ebola Virus Disease, communication planning