The “octuplet mom” story not only created a media frenzy at Kaiser Permanente’s Bellflower hospital , the mom and her eight new born babies also created multiple lessons learned opportunities for every hospital that was paying attention. The lessons learned started in January when the eight new babies were born and making sure hospital personnel were prepared to handle the media frenzy and what they could say and not say and what actions were acceptable and unacceptable.  Does your organization have policies and procedures in place to handle a media frenzy? Then in March, Kaiser Permanente’s Bellflower hospital revealed that 15 employees lost their jobsRead More →

A recent incident revealed that thieves installed simple card skimming devices and cameras on bank ATMs, stealing customer account details and recording PIN numbers.  Once the thieves gathered the ATM card data, new ATM cards were easily created with the stolen customer information and the new ATM cards were used to make unauthorized withdrawals. The thieves stole $500,000 from over 250 bank customers, and according to follow up news stories the customers are now being reimbursed by the bank. In this economic  downturn, can  banks afford to put $500,000 back into their customers’ accounts and continue to foot the bill for identity theft? Do youRead More →

On Sunday, Secretary Napolitano declared an Emergency of Preparedness, stating, ‘…we’re preparing in an environment where we really don’t know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be.’ I agree that this declaration is needed because most organizations are not well prepared for a Pandemic flu outbreak.  Studies show that organizations need to have pandemic plans that address workforce absenteeism rates of 40 percent or higher. What if 40% of your employees were staying home because: 1) They are home sick 2) Family Members are sick 3) Schools are closed 4) Employees fear becoming sick What if your vendors areRead More →