| Success Stories
Rodney Shivers, DDS
Cyber Crisis
Background:
Dr. Rodney Shivers has practiced dentistry in Oklahoma since 1994. In May 2005, one of Shivers’ patients was unhappy with the dental care her daughter had received. The mother sent out a malicious e-mail, warning her friends to stay away from Shivers’ dental practice. The e-mail traveled across the United States and all the way to Canada and Japan in a matter of weeks.
Shivers presented the child’s records to the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, as is standard procedure, and thought that the situation would soon go away. However, he and his staff began to receive angry and threatening phone calls, sometimes in excess of 200 per day. In addition, News 9 asked Shivers for an interview. Realizing he couldn’t handle all of this on his own, he hired 20 Hats for media relations and crisis management.
Objectives: To develop key messages for Shivers and his office staff to use when speaking with concerned patients and/or community members
To keep the number of patients referrals from dropping more than 10 percent
To decrease the number of negative phone calls Shivers' office received in response to the e-mail
To position Shivers as an expert in cyber crises among dental and medical professionals in Oklahoma City
Tactics:
Prepared talking points for Shivers' media interview that addressed the e-mail and clarified the process patients must go through to file complaintsPrepared talking points for staff members and fellow dentists about the cyber crisis
Prepared and distributed letters to current patients and dental colleagues explaining the cyber crisis
and how the office was responding to it
Created a Web site for Shivers' dental practice that included a page addressing the e-mail
Wrote on-hold message for Shivers' office
Designed stationery package including thank you notes and reminder cards
Designed "thank you" campaign for patients to receive a gift when they refer new patients
to the practice
Edited a case study to be used by Shivers' to give presentations about the crisis
Evaluation:
Shivers' practice saw no drop in the number of patient referrals
During the first and second week of the crisis, Shivers' office received in excess of 200 negative phone calls per day. During the third week, the office received 8 to 16 negative calls per day. During the fourth week, the office received about one negative call per day. After the fourth week, the negative phone calls stopped
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