by Helen Stojic, Director, Corporate Affairs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

As John Lennon reminds us, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Early in the week of March 15, I was looking forward to a vacation in Florida. By the end of the week, vacation canceled. I was partnering with my colleagues to mobilize a Corporate Communications command center at Blue Cross to coordinate COVID-19 communications for our members, providers, group customers, and employees. My Outlook inbox was filling up with meeting notices for work groups that would meet early in the morning, late at night, and on weekends.

Blue Cross had been sharing a “Prepare, Don’t Panic” message with employees since January with a question and answer component. When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s first “Stay Safe, Stay Home” executive order took effect March 24, we expanded our Intranet page with more updates.

Suddenly, Michigan was a hot spot. Schools closed. Many businesses shut down. That wasn’t an option at Blue Cross, where we rallied around a message sent by our president and CEO, Daniel Loepp. “Our mission is to care for our members.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan delivers an average of $72 million per day for our members’ care and benefits — ensuring that needed money flows into hospitals, physician offices, health clinics, pharmacies, and other points of care.

Our members are counting on us.

Our operations did not close down. Our employees who could work at home began doing so.  For those employees whose job required them to be on-site, we reconfigured workspaces— as one person put it, “moved more people in five days than we had in the last five years.” Health and safety protocols were enacted.

For the communications team, the company’s technology tools enabled us to do video conference calls using Microsoft Teams. Like many of you, adjusting to not seeing colleagues in person has been challenging, but we were thankful our company was prepared to help us with virtual meetings.

We now have important tips about remote working. Make sure your microphone is on mute when you aren’t talking, and double check that your camera is turned off or covered if you do not want to be on camera. If you are on camera, prop your laptop up with books. Otherwise, the camera angle may not be flattering.

We made temporary benefit changes for our members this year due to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19.  For example, we waived co-pays on testing and treatment for COVID in 2020. We also helped doctor’s offices move to telehealth visits during the stay at home order. Our physician network went from 15% to 85% of doctors’ offices using telehealth in a matter of weeks. We also helped promote access to mental health care.

Fortunately, we have medical professionals at Blue Cross and Blue Care Network who can help us with communications and a very capable executive leadership team who has guided us through this difficult time. Whether you are a Blue Cross member or not, I encourage you to visit our blog which has set a record for site visits and contains lot of information about COVID-19 related topics: MI Blues Perspectives.

As some of you have, I have been involved in many issues management and crisis communications responses both in the public and private sectors during my career in public relations. But nothing in my experience compares to this public health emergency because of its worldwide scope, its length of time, and its impact to every facet of our lives.

 Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

 About the author: As Director, Corporate Affairs, for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Helen Stojic is responsible for developing and implementing communications plans to reach company stakeholders, leads the employee communications function, and serves as a company spokesperson for the news media. Stojic is past president of the Detroit Chapter of Women in Communications and a former Headliner awardee, a board member of the Michigan Press Association and an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America.