In talking about social media, I think it’s important to note which perspective we are speaking from.
For me, social media is a double edged sword. I run the Clinical Support Division at Evans and we are currently in tough times as we turned off enrollment for our retirees and folks retiring off Active Duty. We have to make room for an incoming Security Forces Action Brigade and remnants of a Space Force from Peterson Air Force Base and the directive from DHA is that we are NOT growing. As Army Medicine works to separate out our “readiness” mission from our “healthcare” mission, we have had to send some people to the network in order to make room for the incoming Active Duty and their families. We used Social Media as a platform to disseminate these messages to the community (power in sharing). However, Social Media is also the outlet that frustrated people have used to communicate back with us. There are communities online on Facebook and in chat rooms slamming the facility for “not caring about our retirees”, and we’ve been featured on the news. In this sense, it’s hurting us. BUT, the silver lining is that we have come up with a plan to better package the next round of letters we send out to beneficiaries because of this feedback.
Story aside, social media IS a benefit for us. We are able to gauge feedback in the beneficiary community. We are able to use it as a platform to communicate with beneficiaries. TRICARE, DHA, and our hospital Facebook page all serve as great forums to disseminate information through. Society is evolving so that people gain so much of their information through social media. It’s important to recognize that and harness it to our advantage- we can’t escape it.