The Healthcare Confidential Podcast | Episode 19 “Crisis Planning with Doug Levy”

If there is one word that could be used to sum up 2020 so far, I would pick the word “crisis.” Over the past ten months, we have endured a public health crisis like nothing seen in the last century; raging wildfires that are devastating the west coast, and an unusually active and damaging hurricane season here in the east…not to mention a financial crisis affecting millions of Americans.

In light of all this, I could think of no better guest for today’s podcast than Doug Levy, who literally wrote the book on communicating during a crisis. His first book was “The Communications Golden Hour: The Essential Guide to Public Information When Every Minute Counts” and now there is a follow-up: “The Communications Handbook for Coronavirus.” Doug outlines vital strategies for advance planning, basic steps that should be in every organization’s crisis plan and discusses the ways we can learn from our own and others’ experiences managing crises.

The Take-Away: If you’re just starting to think about how to deal with an emergency while it is underway, you’re too late. The good news: one of the by-products of emergency planning is that you may be able to identify and mitigate potential disasters before they occur. Ultimately, what you say and do within first hour of an emergency of any size will likely determine the outcome.

Contact Doug Levy: You can find Doug on Facebook @DougLevyPR; on Twitter @SFDoug, and you can subscribe to his newsletter to receive daily updates on Covid-19 by visiting douglevy.substack.com.

Healthcare Confidential Podcast