Physician Led Stakeholder Communications
From a superfund site, to a "sick building," to an industrial fire, to an overturned tank car carrying a chemical, to potential anthrax exposure, when people are in the vicinity, they worry about their health. Public relations professionals and other communication specialists, who frequently have little understanding of the exposure agents and health risks, often direct health risk communication. Thus, they often fail to answer the concerns, which are critical to worried constituents. At times they enlist support from toxicologists, physicians and other health experts, but all too often these individuals struggle with the unfamiliar setting – angry stakeholders who want answers now.
To communicate well with distressed communities of people, several essential characteristics distinguish effective communicators from those who may leave the meeting with stakeholders angrier than when they began. Knowledge – proper credentials, and a firm grip on the subject matter. Believability – the ability to understand the psychology of the audience and to address concerns honestly. Communication skills – the ability to take complex information and simplify it without so simplifying that it becomes diluted and misleading. Experience – the more practice one has in these challenging situations, the easier they become.
ICTM's principals have all of these attributes. We have successfully performed risk communication meetings in matters as varied as:
- schools with alarming chemical odors;
- schools with mold;
- residential communities adjacent to superfund sites;
- residential communities distressed following an explosion, a fire or a chemical release;
- residential communities in which dioxin was found in the area lake;
- local municipalities concerned about new power lines;
- groups of workers with worries about potential PCB or benzene exposures;
- residential communities adjacent to composting facilities; and
- many others situations where we, as physicians, have provided information that allows an individual, stakeholders or an entire community, to make the best possible decisions about their well-being, usually under nearly impossible time constraints.
Our clients have ranged from Fortune 500 corporations to local and state governments, to parent-teacher associations.
