1. Jan. 8, 2011 Mass Shooting in Tucson: Lessons for hospital communicators

2. 2 Katie Riley, MA, APR Director of Media Relations Arizona Health Sciences Center, Office of Public Affairs

3. University Medical Center, Tucson 487-bed primary teaching hospital of the University of Arizona Only Level 1 Trauma Center in Southern Arizona

4. 10:15 a.m. January 8, 2011 A quiet Saturday morning… Popular U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords hosts a ‘Congress on Your Corner’ at a busy Safeway supermarket. Lone gunman shoots Rep. Giffords and 15 others. 4 dead at the scene.

5. Hour 1 – ‘Gabby’s Been Shot’ On-call Public Affairs staffer bombarded with calls and pages; heads to UMC. Media arrive at hospital. 9 patients arrive at UMC Trauma Center, 3 more transferred later. Hospital Command Center established.

6. First steps 1 st press briefing set for 2 p.m. in auditorium adjacent to hospital Media kept away from hospital until shortly before briefing Rumor control

7. Expert Spokespersons Dr. Michael Lemole, neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Rhee, head of trauma

8. Media Briefings 10 a.m. briefings for 2 weeks Docs and family members of victims

9. Media Briefings Live streaming of briefings In-house BioCommunications support

10. Website

11. Media Hordes Descend on Hospital Hospital on lockdown for 5 days Provided food, port-a-potties, traffic control

12. Media trucks congregate at hospital entrance

13. Hospital shrine becomes part of the story

14. Interview Requests Established PIO ‘war room.’ Met daily over lunch to triage media requests.

15. Keeping track of requests

16. Scores of Interviews Arizona Media Katie Couric Brian Williams Sanjay Gupta Dr. Oz New York Times (17 staff members) Korean-American press USA Today Canadian Broadcasting Japan Broadcasting AP, Reuters Bloggers NPRWall Street Journal LA TimesAl Jazeera CNNUnivision, Telemundo

17. Privacy Issues Followed HIPAA and wishes of families. Did not release names of victims, only confirmed names. Hospital fired 3 employees for inappropriately accessing electronic medical records of victims.

18. A visit from the President

19. Lessons Learned Consistent spokespersons Balance national vs. local coverage It’s OK to say no sometimes The exhaustion factor

20. Lessons Learned Line up Spanish-speaking sources Don’t forget nurses