Like many healthcare organizations nationwide, Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) is battling rumor and conjecture regarding the H1N1 vaccine—even among its employees. So the 14-hospital, Johnson City, TN-based health system launched an internal communications campaign to set the record straight.
"Many of our caregivers work with the most vulnerable patients who can be dramatically impacted by H1N1," says James Watson, corporate director for MSHA communications and public relations. "Since there is so much misinformation floating around from a variety of sources, we wanted to take an extra effort to make sure each one of them knew the importance of getting the H1N1 vaccine and how it would help them protect the patients they work with each day."
Watson's team has created emails listing H1N1 vaccine facts emphasizing the importance of vaccination to employees. "Without the vaccine, you might spread H1N1 to a patient with COPD or your aunt with diabetes or heart failure," the email states. "It might be the pregnant lady in line at the grocery store. It might be a baby at church or your niece or nephew at Thanksgiving."
Watson says the communications department is using a variety of channels to get the message out.
"From regular emails to daily team meetings inside the organization we call The Mountain States Moment where information is shared from managers in each department with the team, we are working to address the different media venues our team members utilize regularly to make sure they have the most up-to-date information," he says.