February 3, 2015
Health dept. delays Facebook page debut
Plans to start a Cortland County Health Department Facebook page are underway, but the social media platform will not be ready as early as previously expected, officials said this week.
Mary Ann Haley, deputy director of the health department, said at a social media training for first responders Dec. 11 that she hoped to get a Facebook page for the department up and running by early 2015. The page would be used to disseminate information ranging from flu shot availability to minor outbreaks, she said at the time.
“What we really see this Facebook page doing for us, by establishing a following, what we’re hoping is in the event of an emergency, that it will be a very quick way for us to get an emergency message out,” she said this week.
The department also would continue to use traditional news media sources, such as newspapers and radio, to send out information during such an event, Haley added.
Many state grants require the county health department to have a social media presence to educate the public on certain issues, so this Facebook page also would fulfill that requirement, County Health Director Catherine Feuerherm said.
The development of the page has been delayed because it needs outside review, officials say.
Haley, who created draft guidelines for running the page, said she would like to have the page operational by March, but Feuerherm said it could be completed as late as May since it still has to undergo an internal and county review.
Haley said she intends to discuss in February the plan for managing the Facebook page with the county Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and the county Board of Health, which oversees the health department. She also said she believes Legislature Chair Susan Briggs, who is acting as the county administrator, would need to approve the plan under the county’s social media policy.
Briggs could not be reached for comment.
Haley said she has been working with Melanie Drotar, a public information specialist with the Onondaga County Health Department, to learn how that county started its Facebook page and how it manages its posts. Management of the social media platform will differ from how Onondaga County handles its Facebook page, however, since the Cortland County Health Department is a smaller department with fewer employees, Haley said.
Staff members in Onondaga County send information to Drota, who posts the news on the department’s Facebook page, but the Cortland County Health Department will not have a specific person set aside for that purpose, she said.
“We won’t be following that same type of process here because we can’t,” Haley said.
The draft guidelines she created propose having one person for each of the health department’s programs post messages pertaining to their programs, she said.
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