Resources

Our Favorite Resources

Crisis Comm & Media Relations E-Newsletter Hennes Paynter Communications' twice-monthly electronic newsletter covering a wide variety of stories, tips and best practices. For more information click here. 

Sorry Works! began as an advocacy organization in February 2005 with the goal of trying to encourage physicians, hospitals, and insurers to think differently about the medical malpractice crisis. They wanted healthcare, insurance, and legal professionals to realize the solution was in their hands (as opposed to a legislature) by simply developing disclosure and apology programs that pro-actively heal everyone injured by an adverse event. If hospitals and practices want to avoid lawsuits and reduce the number of claims, do the right thing post-event they pleaded.

They did such a good job of attracting media coverage that doctors, risk managers, and healthcare and insurance executives began calling them with a simple question: “OK, this apology stuff appears to have promise...I can see how it reduce lawsuits….but how do I actually teach my physicians and nurses to say sorry? How does this work?”

In 2007, Sorry Works! Consulting, LLC was created to develop content and provide training resources for healthcare professionals. They teach disclosure. Their training efforts have a simple focus: To help clinicians conceptualize disclosure. Everyone knows disclosure is the “right thing to do” for multiple reasons, but actually doing it – conceptualizing it – is another matter. That is where Sorry Works! helps. From their presentations and disclosure training seminars, to their best-selling Sorry Works! Book, new empathy booklet, videos, audio conferences, and disclosure consulting, Sorry Works! not only makes disclosure a reality, they make it come alive for your organization. They have trained thousands of healthcare, insurance, and legal professionals from coast to coast and around the world. The best-selling Sorry Works! Book has been sold around the world. Give them a call today at 618-559-8168 or e-mail doug@sorryworks.net.

"It's An Emergency - We're Not Prepared" Click here for the full story.

"Our Own Worst Enemy: Asking the Right Questions About Security to Protect You, Your Family, and America" by Randall Larson, director of the Institute for Homeland Security. The book provides a solid, practical, logical approach to personal security for all Americans and explains why the government is not prepared to help us in a time of crisis. For more info click here.

As we learned on 9/11 and after Hurricane Katrina, when landline and cell phone telephone lines go down or are jammed to overcapacity, short text messages (150 characters maximum) can often get through. This is because person-to-person voice phone calls basically require an "open pipe" while text messages occupy very little bandwidth and can be “lined up” for delivery. The easiest way to send a text message is cell phone to cell phone (for instructions on how to do so, we suggest you find a 13-year-old, as they all appear to be quite capable of texting).
You can also use your computer or Blackberry-type device to send a text message, also known as SMS, to a cell phone, just like a regular email. Here are the exact email addresses you can use to send computer-to-cell phone emails (the x’s represent the cell phone's area code and phone number, without the '1' and without any dashes):

AT&T xxxxxxxxxx@txt.att.net
Nextel xxxxxxxxxx@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint xxxxxxxxxx@messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile xxxxxxxxxx@tmomail.net
Verizon Wireless xxxxxxxxxx@vtext.com
Virgin Mobile xxxxxxxxxx@vmobl.com
For a complete list of all cell phone company "texting domains," type in http://sms411.net.

WARNING: 1. Depending upon the recipient's cell phone contract, they may pay a few cents to send or receive a text message; 2. Sometimes computer-to-cell phone text message are nearly instantaneous, sometimes they can take hours to go thru the system. Best bet: we suggest you try sending a few computer-to-cell phone text messages now - before you need to do this in an emergency.

It's been over ten years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and four years since the issuance of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States Report. Are we safer today?  The authors of that official report think the answer is no. You can read what they wrote here.

Make a Plan: With ready.gov/business, the business you've worked so hard to build can be as prepared as possible should a disaster strike. Download free, easy-to-use checklists, templates and other resources to help you develop an affordable plan. Protect your business or life's work - start or update your plan today. Becoming a success is hard work. Protecting it isn't.
Here's how: http://www.ready.gov/business/

Emergency & Crisis Info: Do you live in Greater Cleveland? If so, you may be in range of these new, low-power, community and emergency information stations: Mayfield Heights 1700-AM; Mayfield Village 1640-AM; Beachwood 1630-AM.; Pepper Pike 1670-AM; Lakewood 1660-AM; Strongsville 1640-AM; Brunswick 1700-AM; Mentor 1620-AM; Westlake 1680-AM. In the event of an emergency, you will find these stations to be an important source of information. Please consider setting a button to one on your car radio.

When disaster strikes and cell phone and land lines are jammed, how can you assure your critical calls go through? The National Communications System (NCS), part of the Department of Homeland Security, offers priority telecommunications services to first responders, police, fire and rescue, public safety officials at all levels of government, and other national security and emergency preparedness personnel to ensure ongoing communications during crisis situations. Sign up today at www.ncs.gov or call 800-NCS-CALL.