Cord Blood Banking

1. What are some risks that you may face?

1. An earthquake in southern California causes a blackout and the facility is no longer able
to keep the specimens frozen, therefor ruining them.
2. Cord blood is somehow proven to be ineffective or poses health risks.
3. One of the managers is illegally storing or selling frozen specimens for personal profit.
4. The frozen specimens somehow get contaminated.
5. Customers are suing the facility after trying to use their specimens and being told a
person’s cord blood cannot be used to cure their own genetic conditions because the cells
contain the same genetic makeup. They were not made aware of this when agreeing to
pay for this service in a private facility.
6. Someone uses the cord blood that was promised to cure their child, it was ineffective and
the person has taken their story the media.
7. It is revealed how few customers actually benefit from cord blood banking (73 families
benefiting out of the 130,000 stored at this facility) because there is little chance of a
child ever using his or her own cord blood, despite the pressure put on families to take on
this additional financial burden.
8. The specimens are accidentally mislabeled.
9. Most of the public believes this service should be free, but this facility charges top dollar.
10. The underground structure caves in due to natural shifts or natural disasters and the
facility is destroyed.

2. What is the worst of the above?

• Number 5: Customers are suing the facility after trying to use their specimens and being
told a person’s cord blood cannot be used to cure their own genetic conditions because
the cells contain the same genetic makeup. They were not made aware of this when
agreeing to pay for this service in a private facility.

3. The one that you considered the worst has happened.

• I believe number 5 is the worst that could happen because it isn’t something that the
public will view as out of the control of the facility. It gives the facility a dishonest
image. If this was “real life,” I would make sure the facility made this information known
from the beginning, so nobody would be given false hope about the capabilities of cord
blood banking.

4. What is your immediate statement (with revision) to the media?

• Facts cannot be disputed. It is a fact that at our facility alone has changes the lives of 74
families through the use of cord blood. It is a fact that our team works tirelessly to
provide our families with a sense of security in knowing their children are protected. It is
a fact that more than 2,000 cord blood stem cell transplants are performed annually. Is it
also true that cord blood isn’t the cure for all children everywhere suffering from any
disease? Yes. But is it true that cord blood cannot cure any genetic disease? Absolutely
not. Instead of focusing on the diseases cord blood cannot cure, we are focused on the
 ones it can. We are sincere in our mission and we have never made false claims or given
families a sense of false hope. We will remain transparent and we look forward to
answering every single question that comes our way about the facility we are so proud of.

5. Who is your spokesperson?

• The doctor who founded the facility and is most educated on the subject matter. This
person will be trusted by the public as someone who practices medicine but will also
have the professionalism he needs to carry himself. He will be able to answer all medical
questions as well as questions relating to the business of cord blood banking. He would
also be trained to answer any of the more difficult questions.

6. Where is your backup meeting area?

• The cord blood facility also rents a separate corporate office suite within a building where
business is handled and all meetings occur. This is where the team will meet to discuss a
crisis such as this one.

7. What messaging do you want to send?

• We are honest and open and do not withhold information from our clients or the public.
• Our first and most important goal is to serve families and cure children of disease.
• We are constantly working to discover new research and improve upon the benefits of
cord blood banking.

8. What are the toughest three questions that the spokesperson will be asked? Write them
out and answer them.
1. If cord blood cannot cure genetic diseases, what can it cure?
a. Cord blood can cure genetic diseases, just not all of them. Cord blood is
FDA approved and currently used in the treatment of nearly 80 diseases
today. Cord blood has been used in transplant medicine for nearly 30 years
and can be used in the treatment of nearly 80 diseases, including certain
types of cancers, genetic diseases and blood disorders.
2. If you haven’t been dishonest about the uses of cord blood, why are you being
sued?
a. The driving force behind our facility and every single family who stores
their cord blood with us is the health of children. When a child is sick, a
parent will stop at nothing to make them better. We understand the
position and disappointment of parents who cannot use the cord blood
they stored to cure their child’s specific illness. It is devastating. Right
now, our goal is to work with these families personally and come to a
solution that is just and fair. This is not a time for anger, but rather
sympathy for the pain these families have endured.
3. If your goal truly is to help children, why does your facility charge so much
money to store cord blood? If families weren’t pouring so much money into this,
maybe they wouldn’t feel as betrayed when they are told cord blood cannot cure
their child.
 a. Our primary goal is the children, but we have to be sustainable. In order to
keep funding the research that got us here, keep the facility running and
expand to serve more families, we need income. The money isn’t a result
of our work, but rather an avenue for us to keep working.

9. Who are your top three key publics and how are you going to address and reach each?
1. Families who are currently storing their cord blood within our facility.
a. We will send every family a letter discussing the recent allegations and
reassuring them of the truth and value behind storing with us.
2. Potential families who may be looking to store their cord blood within our
facility.
a. We will use the media to clear up any of the false claims about our
facility, so these potential families are not steered away from us after
hearing about the recent allegations. It will be a top priority to get our
truth out there so it is easily accessible.
3. Families who tried to use their stored cord blood, but it wasn’t a cure to their
child’s illness.
a. We will send each of these families a letter that expresses our
understanding and mutual disappointment in our inability to use the blood
to help their child. We will also offer to meet with each of these families
to discuss in person what their options are moving forward and how we
can help or guide them in the direction of further treatment.

10. What specific media do you need to contact?

• Assuming this facility is in Indiana, I would reach out to all local news outlets, especially
writers who have focused on health or child care in the past. This would be a pretty big
news story, so I don’t think we would have any problems finding outlets who want to
cover it. I would ensure I contacted the most popular newspapers in Indiana and Fox59
for station coverage. The top ten newspapers I would reach out to are:
o The Indianapolis Star
o The Times of Northwest Indiana
o The Journal Gazette
o The South Bend Tribune
o The Evansville Courier & Press
o The Herald-Times Online
o The Star Press
o The Kokomo Tribune
o The Journal and Courier