People who respond to crises are typically extremely committed individuals who think of others before themselves. While it is precisely their generous outlook that calls them to this work, it is imperative that they—and those who care for them—be encouraged to pay close attention to their physical and emotional well-being. The strength of responders is the engine behind rescue and recovery.
Part of health and well-being is good preparation and planning so that people understand their roles and can maximize efficiency while minimizing unnecessary frustration. Crises bring enough unavoidable challenges without adding disorganization to the list.
Public health officials and the communication professionals who support them are responders who need to pay attention to their preparation, as well as their physical and emotional needs, as a crisis continues. The following describes important steps that should be taken to ensure that they, like all who are serving the public good, can do so most effectively.
Plan For Human Resources In Precrisis Planning
During precrisis planning, consider the following to incorporate human resources into your crisis communication plan:
- Provide training
- Acknowledge levels of experience
- Maintain a registry of communication professionals
- Recognize the concerns of responders about potential conflict between jobs and personal responsibility
- Know how many people will be needed to execute your crisis communication plan.
Train communicators for designated emergency response jobs and refresh that training periodically (e.g., at minimum, require them to read and initial the crisis communication plan and discuss their roles). Consider creating training drills (possibly unannounced) to see how quickly you can get your crisis communication operations up and running.
Ask yourself the following questions.
- Are phone numbers up to date in your plan?
- Do people respond within 45 minutes after being paged?
- Are backups ready if primary responders are away and out of reach?
- Can you assemble and make mock assignments within hours of the launch of the operation?
- Can your early skeletal staff produce, clear, and release a press update within two hours of obtaining information?
- Are the initial steps being considered (e.g., verification, notification, coordination)?
Acknowledge levels of experience
Develop an expertise ranking system and "promote" your team members as they gain more skills and experience in responding during an emergency. For example, the American Red Cross ranks responders, from technician to specialist to coordinator and then assistant officer and officer. They offer two tracks, one for subject matter expertise and another for leadership. Not everyone with specialized skills wants to lead, yet, their level of emergency response expertise should be recognized.
Maintain a registry of communication professionals
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Identify your human assets, especially those who volunteer to participate at the headquarters or to be deployed as part of an emergency public health response. Keep a database and continually reach out to find and add new volunteers within your organization. Make sure that their supervisors are in agreement and willing to sacrifice those staffers to the emergency response. Register communicators by specialty areas, level of experience and willingness to work in the headquarters, be deployed to a JIC, sent overseas, etc. The more "truly available" persons on your list, the more likely your operation can be maintained and, ultimately, go the distance. Ask people annually to recommit; this will ensure that you have a list representing a true inventory of your human assets.
Divide your registry according to the types of jobs that your organization's crisis communication plan has identified to be executed internally. If your plan indicates that your Web or 24-hour phone operations support will come from another organization, there's no need to keep those assignments active on your registry. Find out now if nonpaid, trained volunteers are permitted to augment your operations. Indicate on the registry who is eligible, based on your criteria, for management or leadership positions during an emergency response.
Recognize responders' concerns about potential conflicts between jobs and personal responsibilities
Responders and their families need to be reminded to plan for their absence in a crisis. Knowing that their families have plans will help responders cope and focus on their job responsibilities.
By mid-crisis, responders should have the opportunity to communicate with their families.
Know how many people will be needed to execute your crisis communication plan
As an initial step in crisis response, you will be making decisions about your communication operations, especially about daily hours of operation, the number of days per week, and, at some point, the expected duration of the response. Reassessments, of course, will be needed as the nature of the crisis is more clearly understood. Apply your risk assessment tools to help you make these decisions. Remember to stagger work hours to ensure continuity in your operation. You don't want an uninformed fresh crew to come in—at various times in the operational day, you'll want new workers to relieve members of a core group. For example, stagger shifts in a 24-hour period so that some are working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., others come in at 4 p.m. and work until 4 a.m., and still others arrive at noon and work until midnight.
Don't forget relief for leadership. Workers deserve clear and competent leadership - it's the duty of all involved to take occasional breaks to keep them functioning at the high level required in an emergency.
The following are tried and true guidelines for establishing staff working hours during a crisis from the American Red Cross—an organization that has deployed millions of volunteers domestically and around the world for more than a hundred years. It's worth trying their formula.
Initial Phase
During the initial phase of crisis, it is reasonable for a person to work 12 hours a day, but never more than 16. During a three-week deployment, a person can work for the first 7 to 10 days with no days off if the emergency is very intense.
Maintenance Phase
If the emergency is less intense, staff should normally be directed to take one 24-hour period off after seven days of work, with the expectation of two days off within three weeks. Typically, an assignment is for three weeks. However, if someone continues to be physically and mentally fit, the Red Cross may extend an assignment for another three weeks, with further reassessment for a final three weeks. However, the Red Cross expects that the volunteer, if deployed far from home, will return home for a brief stay before redeploying for each of the three-week assignments.
Resolution Phase
Before volunteers return home or to their normal jobs, the American Red Cross either requires or encourages a visit to a mental health counselor. The organization also believes that there is value in debriefing participants. The Red Cross also provides support and educational materials to family members of persons deployed away from home.
Be Realistic About What Can Be Accomplished By A Single Person In Public And Media ResponseHow much can one communication "super-hero" accomplish in a day? There's a great deal of variation; however, there is reasonable consensus about the following rules:
Taking repetitive information calls from the public working from a script and requiring no analysis, a motivated worker may manage between 30 and 40 repetitive calls requesting information per hour. However, no one should be expected to do an eight-hour shift of this type of call-taking; six hours is more reasonable. Reduce that by two-thirds if calls require reassurance, referral, or recommendation. That degree of interaction would make for an overly intense six-hour shift on the phones.
Media response needs
Press assistants who take media calls can manage at least twice as many calls than can media information officers who provide more in-depth assistance. However, the work of a press assistant can range from taking a message (not always an easy task), to directing the media representative to an alternate source. The people answering media calls provide your organizations' first impression—ensure that you assign enough people to this task. Also, make sure you have enough incoming phone lines, lest your press assistants endure a lot of grousing. When possible, create a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document containing all of the known facts and make it available to reporters by fax, Web, and e-mail. This will reduce the amount of human power you'll need to get through the emergency operation.
Public information officers have been known to manage 100 calls in a day (but that could be a "fish" story) when the facts are straightforward. However, quantity must be tempered by quality. A tough day of media calls on a single but complex subject could mean between 40 and 50 for one press officer. Someone working with "issues" and not just providing information, won't be able to field as many calls. Someone acting as a spokesperson for the agency - doing radio or print interviews—will field even fewer calls. There's an obvious correlation between the intensity of the work and the amount of analysis and judgment needed in the response, and the reduction in the number of calls handled in a day.Spokesperson assignments
If the media interest is intense or enduring - what you'd expect in a crisis—stagger your spokespersons, too. Fatigue creates mistakes. Attempt to arrange interviews when your spokesperson is most fresh (e.g., not at the end of a shift). Reduce stress with lots of support from the public information officer.
Top leaders should expect no more than four TV interviews in a day, along with two or three telephone interviews if they're not too in-depth. That pace, however, can not be sustained day after day, and an organization director or hands-on leader of the response can't afford to do continuous interviews. Save the big guns for important moments when the public expects to hear from a real policy-maker or decision maker. If possible, substitute lower-level organization leaders or subject matter experts for more routine interview requests. The director should be reserved for the greatest possible reach and for pivotal moments. Overexposure of the top director may lead to accusations of grandstanding or perceived power struggles.
A spokesperson or subject matter expert assigned solely to provide media and public information response (a luxury rarely afforded) can keep pace with a top public information officer and should be able to do six or more short on-camera interviews, interspersed with print and radio interviews, each day. However, if that number of requests remains constant over time, be sure to capitalize on regular press availabilities and open more channels of communication to the public and media. The media would love unlimited access to exclusive in-person interviews. Use your assets wisely and save your human resources for the times that they're really needed.
Be Aware Of Emotional Health Issues For Those Responding To A Crisis: Taking Off The "Superhero" Cape!
According to the Red Cross, those who respond to a crisis have the potential to become "secondary victims," as they work long, intensive hours often under poor conditions. In some cases, physical dangers exist for responders. For those deployed away from home, personal support systems are left behind. Supervisory styles vary from person to person; and administrative organization and regulations often must change with little warning, adding additional stressors.
Most people who willingly respond to a crisis are dedicated individuals who also tend to be perfectionists. As such, they are at risk of pushing themselves too hard and of not being satisfied with what they have accomplished. With so much yet to do, they often fail to take credit for the amount of work completed and their contribution to the operation.
Frustration is common, and one's usual sense of humor is often stretched beyond its limits. Workers become exhausted, and anger easily surfaces. The anger of others—workers, victims, media—becomes difficult to deal with, and may be experienced as a personal attack on the worker rather than as a normal response to exhaustion. Survivor guilt may emerge as workers see what others have lost.
Recognize That You Are Coping With Stress
Remember that your response efforts are a gift of yourself - your time and your caring - that you couldn't give if you, too, were a victim. Few of us have experience with mass death or destruction. Workers need to understand and appreciate the intensity of their emotions.
Although workers may function in superhuman ways during a disaster operation, the stress associated with this work takes its toll. Workers get tired, confused, hurt, and scared. It is critical for both the workers and those they are trying to help understand the effects of stress and make an effort to deal with it.
Stress-relieving activities are not as difficult or time-consuming as we may think. A 15-minute walk, talking to someone, taking a "brain break" by going out to dinner or a movie, or just using deep breathing exercises, can significantly reduce stress.
During the operation, it's important to eat nutritional foods, avoid drinking large amounts of caffeine and alcohol, get some exercise whenever possible, and get as much sleep as possible.
Supervisors will attempt to juggle schedules so workers can have time off to sleep, read, or sit in the sun. If workers need such time before they're scheduled, they should request it. If they need a change of assignment or setting, they should ask for that, too. And, as difficult as it may be to turn over duties to someone else, when a shift is over, workers must leave and take the time to recharge.
The following acronyms contain important points for coping with, and supporting other people during, stressful situations.
For personal coping, think RETALE.
- Recognize that emotions will be high in this abnormal setting and talk about it.
- Eat nutritious food (e.g., fruit versus donuts, or peanuts versus chips).
- Take mental breaks.
- Avoid lots of caffeine or alcohol.
- Leave when your shift is over.
- Exercise.
For supervisors' support, think RIMEREAD.
- Remind workers about the value of their effort.
- Insist that scheduled meal breaks be taken.
- Make nutritious foods and drinks available.
- Expect high emotions and provide someone for workers to talk to.
- Respond to even timid requests for relief or reassignment.
- Encourage exercise and personal grooming time.
- Accept non-offensive "silliness" that some use to let off steam.
- Despite what they say, insist that workers take time to sleep.
Emotional Health Issues For Families Of Deployed Emergency Response Workers
The following is sample wording for a brochure to families of deployed workers (Adapted from an American Red Cross brochure.)
Someone very important to you and your family has just left on an emergency response assignment. It is natural for you to be worried about the experiences and potential hardships he or she may face on assignment.
Your family member has probably given you all of the information available at the time of the assignment. It may seem very scanty to you. That's because in the beginning stages of any operation, we don't really know much about where the need is greatest and where we will require your family member's particular skills. We often don't know that accommodations are available or even whether phone service is in place.
For the emergency response member, the beginning of any operation is a process of reporting as quickly as possible to a command center (which may change location), to perform a function that may change as the needs of the operation change. The staff member may be reassigned once or many times to different locations during the assignment. It is a time of great confusion and considerable frustration, as we begin to meet the needs of victims and affected communities. But we can guarantee that this is an opportunity unlike any other as emergency response workers experience the satisfaction that accompanies helping others and stretching their own limits and potential.
We know that you will keep in touch with your deployed family member as often as possible, and continue to make him or her feel like part of the family. Friendships are quickly formed on assignments and workers look out for each other's welfare as if they had been lifelong friends. But even this sense of camaraderie is not a substitute for news and expressions of caring from home.
Deployed staff usually work long hours with little time off. They are constantly exposed to scenes of suffering, possible destruction, and the strong emotions of victims. The fast pace of the response operation is intended to quickly help the largest number of people to resume a normal, although changed, life.
When your family member returns home, he or she may need some additional time to adjust to the "normal" pace of everyday life, and may require a few days of rest before resuming previously normal responsibilities. It will be important for your family member to be able to talk to you about what happened and the emotions that accompanied the work. He or she may be proud, frustrated, angry, sad, tearful, and happy all at the same time. It will take some time to sort out these conflicting emotions.
He or she may seem preoccupied with the disaster experience, and may not seem to share your excitement, disappointment, or frustration about events at home. Be assured that what has happened at home is as important as it always was; your family member has been through an experience that tends to overshadow everyday events and puts them in a different perspective when viewed against the enormity of the situation he or she just left.
All emergency response workers return home with a conscious or unconscious need to reassure themselves of the safety of their environment. And virtually all workers feel that they left something undone on the operation. It is important that you greet your family member with the love and understanding that made you the type of family he or she could feel comfortable leaving in order to help others.
Deployed workers, even when they have served in a location that's not far from home, may have some difficulty readjusting to home life. This can create some conflicts and misunderstandings upon their return. We share this information with you in the hope that the family reunion will be joyful.
If you wish to talk to someone about your family member's assignment, please feel free to call (designated phone number) at any time of the day or night.
The following is a sample letter that would appear on organizational letterhead to accompany the above brochure (Adapted from an American Red Cross letter.)
To the family of our deployed emergency responder:
We at (your organization) would like to offer our thanks and appreciation to you, the family whose loved one is serving on this emergency assignment.
It is not easy to be the ones who stay at home keeping life on track. We appreciate the sacrifices you have made while your family member is away for an extended period and recognize that the time may be difficult with increased family responsibilities, concern for the welfare of your loved one, and, perhaps, an increase in your personal stress.
It is also important for you to know that the person on assignment has been through a difficult experience. He/She may not be able to resume a normal schedule immediately. Your understanding of this is very important. For this reason, we have included with this letter a brochure to help your entire family when your loved one returns from assignment.
The (organization name) could not function without the families of our deployed workers. Thank you again for your support in this time of need.
Sincerely,
________________________