Answer the following questions from the case study "Community Relationships Maintained During Hospital Closing" provided below:

1. You are the public relations director of the closing hospital. Your public relations plan calls for a community town hall meeting. Some people in the community don't have phones or computers. How will alert everybody about this meeting? When will you hold it? How many times? Who will attend from the hospital? What is your goal for the meeting and how will you achieve that? Develop a plan addressing these issues.
2. Many depend on the hospital for their own and their children's health needs. The plan calls for input and feedback from the community. What will you with their feedback? What if your CEO is unwilling to listen?
3. Take as an example the hospital closest to where you live. Who do you think are the opinion leaders for that hospital? Identify them by their position in the hospital, how they would be contacted, and what the message strategy would be?

Note: The case study is given below:

66 .CHAPTER 4 Community Relations "Mercy continues its ministry for the poor Primary Care Center to serve the uninsured, with a new primary care center for the the National Council of Alcoholism and social services, and limited specialty care to uninsured-investing $2 million per year Drug Dependency, Head Start, Child Care uninsured, low income patients. Mercy showers a week and processes 300 loads of to make that happen." Coordinating Center, the Detroit Fire Primary Care Center also has a Specialized laundry a month. Department, and McCauley Commons' inde- Personal Assistance program that provides Mercy Health Care, now known as pendent housing. The revamped campus clothing, showers, and laundry services for Trinity Health, contributes up to $2 million Plans Were Executed with Precision promises to continue providing a positive, homeless persons. It provides about 150 a year in salaries, operations, and donations to keep the center open. Plans began with a carefully implemented major impact in the community. Balanced effort to obtain balanced stories-as early media coverage told the story fairly. Personal as September 1999-about the difficult interviews with a sample of 20 (from the list QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION financial situation and the possibility that of those previously interviewed) were Mercy Hospital-Detroit may close. This extremely positive. Internal meetings were 1. You are the public relations director of the closing hospital. Your public 2. Many depend on the hospital for their was followed with a series of editorial equally positive. Employees from Mercy own and their children's health needs. board meetings with Detroit's two dailies, Hospital-Detroit, many of whom would be relations plan calls for a community the weekly business newsmagazine, and without jobs, gave Mercy-Detroit's CEO a town hall meeting. Some people in The plan calls for input and feedback from the community. What will you do African-American weekly. Similar meet- standing ovation after he explained the clos- the community don't have phones or ings were later held with community lead- computers. How will you alert with their feedback? What if your CEO ing and transfer of the hospital. everyone about this meeting? When is unwilling to listen? ers and the Detroit City Council. The The final test came when MHS generally fair and favorable editorials and announced the purchase of St. Mary will you hold it? How many times? 3. Take as an example the hospital closest Who will attend from the hospital? to where you live. Who do you think news coverage resulting from the meetings Hospital, a 300-bed hospital in the Detroit are the opinion leaders for that hospi- helped educate Mercy's key audiences and suburb of Livonia, only four months after What is your goal for the meeting would later help them understand the closing the inner-city Detroit hospital. and how will you achieve that? Put tal? Make a list and identify them by reasons for closing. Without the effective public relations pro- together a plan addressing these their position in the hospital, how they issues. would be contacted and what the mes- Media coverage reached a crescendo gram on the closing of Mercy Hospital- sage strategy would be. in January 2000 and continued through March Detroit, the announcement to acquire a new 2001, including NBC Nightly News and sev- hospital in a predominantly white suburb eral national trades. A total of 10,000 letters could have caused significant editorial were mailed to residents' homes within three scrutiny and community backlash that would eastside ZIP codes. All audiences received the surely damage MHS' reputation (just one news of Mercy Hospital-Detroit's closing and, month after its merger with another major although disappointed that Detroit's east side national health system to create Trinity would lose an acute care hospital, they were Health) and hamper its future growth. All generally understanding of the situation. internal and external audiences met the Excluding a regulatory requirement to announcement of the St. Mary Hospital place a "Public Notice" advertisement in acquisition, except for minor exceptions, local newspapers, no other form of advertis- with support and encouragement. ing was used to reach the audiences. Today, Mercy Primary Care Center con- tinues to operate in one of the most impover- Evaluation ished areas of Detroit. It provides a range of primary care services, regardless of ability to In late 2000, the Mercy Hospital-Detroit pay. In 2005, it served more than 6,200 building was donated to a multiservice com- patients, providing medication, lab tests, munity organization (SER Metro) and a limited radiological studies, physicals, preven- Catholic organization serving youths and tive care and health education, management families (Boysville). Other new tenants on of acute and chronic diseases, pelvic exams the former hospital campus include Mercy and pap tests, enrollment into medical plans,64 CHAPTER 4 Community Relations Research or telephones. The interviews also helped Case 4-2 Community Relationships Preparations began when Mercy Hospital- crystallize other audiences to target: Maintained During Hospital Closing* Detroit commissioned a research study to . Mercy Hospital-Detroit employees, obtain community opinion and attitudes. medical staff, board members, and The study showed that parent company volunteers MHS was held in high esteem and that the . Mercy's leadership group (40 top man- local community not only counted on Mercy agement personnel nationwide) and Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. The Hospital-Detroit but saw it as an entitle- other corporate office employees business and the government trimmed already struggling hospital was devastated by ment for the community. Community religious leaders whatever fat there was from the healthcare the cuts. Losses of $1.5 million per month . Local physician leaders system. In 1997, Congress passed the began to mount. The federal and state funding Meanwhile, the commitment to the cuts similarly affected operating margins at community from the Sisters of Mercy and Regional and national partners Balanced Budget Act in an attempt to Mercy's other hospitals. The MHS Board was the MHS Board led MHS management to . Major insurers reform Medicare and trim waste from the conclude that it should donate the 10-year- Archdiocese of Detroit and Bishops in system. But cuts went billions of dollars faced with system-wide financial constraints beyond expectation. The healthcare system that put the system's bond rating at risk. old building to the community. Instead of all MHS markets simply selling the hospital campus to a was in a financial crisis. Health premiums Operating losses at Mercy Hospital-Detroit . Michigan's governor and staff totaled nearly $100 million from 1990-2000. developer for commercial use, MHS deci- . Detroit's Mayor and key aides weren't paying for the cost of services. ded the hospital should be converted as . The Wayne County Executive and key Hospitals were being squeezed by man- In the hope of finding a buyer, a series of discussions with major Detroit health systems a long-term community asset to enhance aides aged care companies having their own neighborhood revitalization, and the new . Detroit City Council financial troubles. One consequence was ensued in 1999, but all were facing the same the closing of hospitals. circumstances: increasingly ill patients with no owner(s) and users should share the mission . Trade and healthcare consortia health insurance and decreasing reimburse- and values of the hospital's parent, MHS. . 99,000 residents in the primary service ments from the government. The decision was Additionally, MHS decided to keep a pres- area Mercy Hospital-Detroit's Struggle made to close the hospital in December 1999. ence on the hospital campus by earmarking Mercy Hospital-Detroit quickly became a $2 million for a primary care clinic for the The east side of Detroit is among the most uninsured. In doing so, Mercy supported its The Public Relations Plan troubled urban areas in the United States, national example of the evolving healthcare mission of "care for the poor and under- struggling with a multitude of social and eco- crisis in the United States. A public relations plan was developed to served" while seeking a new owner for the nomic challenges. Mercy Hospital-Detroit reach these audiences using a variety of tac- larger block of property and buildings. was an important anchor in this neigh- Several Public Relations Issues tics-not relying on advertising -including The next step was a major study in borhood, not only providing access to specific ways to obtain their input and feed- Emerged early 2000-just after the announce- healthcare, but also security, employment, back. Tactics in the plan included e-mail; a ment of closure-consisting of personal leadership, and a place for social interaction. How can the hospital close without giv- telephone hotline; staff and community It relied heavily on Medicare, Medicaid, ing the impression of abandoning the interviews with 198 Detroit community town hall meetings; targeted letters to and opinion leaders, including elected and other government sources for its city and its poorest residents? volunteers, community leaders, and others; officials, clergy, and major business and business-nearly 80 percent of its total . Is it possible to close the hospital while the hospital newsletter; editorial board still maintaining the excellent reputa- social service agency representatives, to admissions. meetings with Detroit's two daily newspa- In the early to mid-1990s, Mercy tion of MHS and its sponsor, the Sisters obtain ideas about how to "do the right pers, weekly business newsmagazine, and Hospital-Detroit found it increasingly diffi- of Mercy? thing" and "give back" to the community, African-American weekly; formal closure cult to maintain its fiscal health; operating How can Mercy coincidentally acquire rather than simply close the hospital notices in community newspapers; direct- losses were supplemented by the hospital's a similar-sized hospital in a predomi- and move on. The personal interviews mail letters; and news releases, fact sheets, parent company, Mercy Health Services nantly white suburban community provided valuable input on specific com- and backgrounders. (MHS).! Then, in 1997, the Balanced Bud- without attracting major criticism and, munity needs, possible organizations that The key messages to communicate get Reconciliation Act severely reduced worse yet, accusations of "racism"? met the criteria as a new owner, and com- were: "Mercy can no longer tolerate this munication tactics for most effectively level of losses or be supported by others reaching the important audiences of key within the Mercy system," "Mercy is 'doing Thank you to Stephen Shivinsky, APR, vice president of corporate communications and public relations at community leaders and area residents, the right thing' by donating the property 14. for this ance study many of whom are without transportation to help meet community needs," and