Relocating is a challenge for any institution, but it's a gargantuan task for a hospital. On Aug. 20, 2015, Parkland Health & Hospital System began moving equipment, staff and over 600 patients from its current hospital to the new $1.3 billions dollar replacement hospital across the street. Parkland generally utilizes its Twitter account to promote its commitment to caring for the Dallas community, but the social network offered a unique opportunity to give the community an inside look at the transition as it happened. We can find no other instance of a hospital live-tweeting the move to a new facility on this scale.
While the communications team at Parkland planned the promotion of the move for print, broadcast and online outlets, we specifically chose Twitter to communicate the transition as it happened with up-to-the-minute updates on the safety of moving patients, how staff prepared for the transition and how new patients and visitors can find their way in the new hospital.
Many social media platforms were used during the move, but Twitter was used to make updates as they happened from Aug. 20 to when the last patient was transferred to the new Parkland. This was essential for ambulances and patients needing emergency care because of the strict 6 a.m. closing and opening times of the old Emergency Department to the new one, respectively. Tweets came out as one-hour alerts to the moment the old ER stopped taking patients. Follow-up tweets gave additional information, like a map to the new ER entrance.
Later that morning, tweets began focusing on “hospital firsts” like the first patient inside the new hospital and the first baby born in the new facility. All tweets about the move had specific branding made specifically for the move. Later tweets focused on informing followers when specific units were moved to the new hospital so that family and friends of patients would know where to find their loved ones.
Twitter was also utilized to showcase Parkland’s rigorous planning and training for the move, showcasing how every patient was personally escorted by a “move team” that ensured the patient’s safety during their transfer
One strategy of the live-tweeting was to show how Parkland's commitment to the Dallas community was unaffected by the move. Tweets featured Parkland providing health and job information at a large local event that took place during the move.
Live-tweets continued on Friday, Aug. 21, the second of the planned three day move to the new Parkland. Tweets again focused on the patient move with a focus on linking to www.newparklandhospital.com, which provided brief but essential answers to common questions about the new facility.
Extensive planning for the move had borne fruit; at the end of that day, every patient had been safety moved to the hospital – one full day ahead of schedule. The live-tweeting continued through the press conference announcing the successful move.
Although Parkland uses Twitter to promote healthy habits, feature community engagement and showcase our passion for providing the best health care for patients, live-tweeting the move to the new hospital gave the community a unique, constantly-updated look at how safely it can be done. Our use of Twitter made it possible to also show how we safely moved patients, how we prepared for the transition and how new patients and visitors can find their way in the new hospital. The statistics below show the intense interest in the move and Parkland’s successful use of Twitter to communicate the move to the new Parkland.
| |
Aug. 9 - 15
Week before move |
Aug. 16 - 22
"Move" week |
Percent Increase |
| Total impressions |
3,088 |
81,021 |
 2,524% |
| New followers |
35 |
144 |
311% |
| Retweets |
42 |
189 |
350% |
| Favorites |
37 |
179 |
384% |