Communication During the Sheboygan TB Outbreak

Steps Taken • Looked for lessons learned: Appleton Health

Dept.

• Met with SASD Administration: Set up a plan

– Met with faculty in the AM

– Drafted parent letters for that afternoon

– Met with local media: Requested embargo until end

of school day

• Extra “on-call” nurses were in place and a

scripted hotline was set up for overflow calls.

• Briefed United Way 2-1-1 Fox Cities to assist

with overflow and afterhours calls.

Consistently communicated through school, medical providers, media and public health• All parents received a letter and a TB

teaching sheet. Parents of contacts were sent a separate letter with a teaching sheet. They were told a phone call was coming.

• Letters were shared with local health care providers along with an update on the contact investigation plans.

• The teaching sheet and TB talking points were shared with Public Health staff, 2-1-1 and a version “in layman's terms” was shared with media.

After the release

Parents• The next day, 8 calls

came into public health • Less than 10 were

fielded at SASD• No calls to 2-1-1.

Media• Approximately 15

minutes after the online release of the Sheboygan Press article, Milwaukee TV affiliates were calling for interviews.

• An hour after release, camera crews were in the lobby.

ResponseScheduled a joint press conference withSASD Superintendent, School Nurse and Medical Director, County Health Officer and Program Supervisor

Lessons Learned

• Build trust with repetitive messages through multiple sources

• Timing is everything• The internet and social media speed up the

message. Be ready to respond as soon as the story breaks.

• It worked well the first time, when more cases were identified, this process repeated itself.