Buyer Beware - How prepared are post-secondary institutions?

As a creative communications student, I have certain obligations. One of those would be to post some of my assignments on my blog. Therefore, from time-to-time you will find that I will be posting something not related to my blog topic. This first one is related to H1N1 the virus; not H1N1 the band.


For our Buyer Beware assignment, our team decided to merge PR and Advertisement into one project. We were curious to know how post-secondary institutions in Manitoba are preparing for a possible H1N1 outbreak. Post-secondary students are rarely addressed in reports regarding the H1N1 flu virus, so our team set out to close the gap.

We wanted to examine the H1N1 pandemic policies for each the five major post-secondary institutions in Manitoba, namely, the University of Manitoba (U of M), The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg), Red River College (RRC), Brandon University (BU), and College universitaire de Saint-Boniface (CUSB). But throughout our research, we quickly discovered that we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. We learned that each institution has a much larger crisis communication plan in place than what is made publicly available.

Since we did not see our “product” it made it extremely difficult for us to compare and contrast these policies. Our next step was to come up with an idea on how to make our research still valuable. Therefore, we asked ourselves the following questions:

What are we dealing with?

The first step to preparedness is to find out what you are up against. A clear definition of what the H1N1 influenza is, what its symptoms are, and how to prevent and manage it, is vital.

We found that all of the five institutions had, at the very least, a basic backgrounder on H1N1.


What’s going to happen?

In order to prepare for a pandemic, it’s important to anticipate how it could affect those who are involved. Employees and students should know what to expect.

Only U of M, UWinnipeg and RRC have information about the impact of employee and student absenteeism. Out of the five, only U of M and RRC touched on the possibility of a supply shortage and the possibility of facility closures. U of M is the only institution that mentioned an anticipation of financial setbacks.

Who is doing what?

A clear outline of the roles and responsibilities of people involved will help manage an H1N1 pandemic. For any plan to succeed, it’s important that everyone is informed of what is expected of him or her, and for everyone to have a sense of accountability.

All of the institutions, except for BU, had information available on the roles and responsibilities of students. All, except BU and CUSB, mentioned the roles and responsibilities of employees. Only U of M and RRC talked about the existence of a Pandemic Planning Committee and an Emergency Operations Centre. Lastly, only U of M detailed the roles and responsibilities of their institution’s president, vice-chancellor, deans, directors and department heads.

What are we going to do?

Problems will arise and information about how to deal with each specific problem would be helpful in case of a pandemic.

We found that all institutions, except BU, have guidelines available for students on how to cope with missed schoolwork due to closures and absences. Most institutions, except U of M and BU acknowledged the special needs of international students who might want to travel and might not have health care insurance. In terms of communicating and staying in touch, most institutions, except UWinnipeg and BU, have specified guidelines. Only U of M and RRC mentioned guidelines on how to manage human resources, facilities, and information technology infrastructures. Only U of M provided information about what should be done for students living in student residences. They are also the only one who talked about making provisions for public safety, financial services, food services, and issues on legalities.

How do we move past this?

Wrapping up, cleaning up and touching up after a crisis is needed for an institution to get back on its feet.

We found that only U of M and RRC have any information available on its plans for recovery in case of a pandemic. They focused on making psychological support available for students and staff, replacing possible staff lost to the pandemic, and ultimately resuming operations. U of M even mentioned a plan in place for writing up post-pandemic reports.

Overall, the public, i.e. students, know very little in terms of their institutions’ crisis plan; and that is a good thing. Crisis plans extend much farther than the H1N1 virus and other select illnesses, as a good plan prepares for any crisis situation. For example a bomb threat, or technical difficulties.

Another type of research we did was to contact Melanie Lee Lockhart and Therese Mickelson, two public relations experts on crisis communication, to seek their opinion on what makes a good crisis plan.

A good crisis plan, according to our experts, should aim to:

• Prepare for any situation.
• Be short and simple in the event that a non-crisis committee member can read and act out the plan.
• Be flexible for changing situations.
• Be so well thought out that the institution can respond to the crisis immediately through every media outlet possible.
• Anticipate its audience’s needs.
• Be prepared to help its team and audience deal with the emotional and physical aspects of a crisis.
• Make everyone on the team’s role clear.
• Be portable so that each crisis team member can carry the plan with them at all times. For example, using a flash drive.



Why you don’t know your institutions full plan:

•Each plan is unique to the institution. Your institution has the first, and next level of the plan ready to be released. If an institution were to release all levels of the plan at once they would risk causing people to panic, and students would be anticipating the next level to unravel.
•An institution might risk losing most of their students to minor symptoms.

What you can take away from this is:

• Students and staff should continue with their daily activities as normal.
• Students and staff should stay up-to-date with the stages of progress regarding H1N1 in their institution.
• Students are encouraged to visit their school’s website and ask questions if they have any concerns.
• Students and staff should practice the preventative measures given to them.

And finally, probably the most important point of our research:

• If your institution does not make it public that some kind of plan is in place, do not be afraid questions its existence.


Below is the interview with Melanie Lee Lockhart and Therese Mickelson. The volume is a little low on the interview portion so crank it up.