Brown County Health & Human Services
As a seasoned journalist and communications professional, Claire Paprocki had learned plenty about crisis communication, but nothing could have fully prepared her for what it would be like to help manage a crisis that constantly evolved and went on indeterminately.
With a dream of becoming the next Barbara Walters, Paprocki graduated with a journalism and mass communication degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before working as a newspaper reporter and then in corporate communications for UnitedHealth Group.
When a public health strategist position with Brown County opened 18 months ago, Paprocki couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give back and help the county become a stronger, healthier community. Little did she know what lay in store, as the pandemic began to take hold just as she was beginning her new role. Paprocki met the challenge.
“Two of my passions intersected. I got to bring back that communications and journalism role with Brown County Public Health. We obviously had to get everyone on board and figure out how we were going to respond to COVID as it came into the
United States and came into Wisconsin and then finally into Brown County,” she says.
There’s a saying at Brown County Public Health: You don’t think about public health, and that’s the point. The COVID-19 pandemic thrust public health — and Paprocki — into a new spotlight.
“A pandemic like this is something no one can truly prepare for and how Claire handled this stressful situation with calm and precision is deserving of recognition. Her efforts made a real difference in how the community received and reacted to the information being shared.”
— Cole Buergi, Leonard & Finco Public Relations
Paprocki gave interviews, led social media efforts, and handled public relations and marketing. She also helped create messaging that connected people to the correct resources and ensured the public was up to date on guidance and recommendations.
“Throughout the whole course of the pandemic, we were always learning something new,” she says.
Paprocki and her department responded to needs as they arose, first through public information campaigns and testing and later vaccines. She’s proud of helping ensure testing and vaccines were distributed equitably and providing resources in the languages and avenues needed to reach diverse people and needs.
Communicating during an emotion-ally charged and frightening time like a pandemic is no easy feat. Part of Paprocki’s job included understanding that people ingest information differently and seek it from varied sources — and tailoring messages accordingly. She also battled pervasive misinformation along the way and tried to help combat it. Throughout it all, Paprocki and her department remained neutral.
“Our job is to provide information, to provide guidance, to provide recommendations and give that to organizations, businesses and individuals. We provide that information and then those entities can make decisions based on what’s best for them. We tried not to get into any hot topics or be political about it,” she says.
While Paprocki describes some of her experiences during the pandemic as grueling, including putting in long hours and struggling to keep up with ever-shifting circumstances and guidance, she says it’s also been an amazing learning experience. She’s grateful to have played a part in helping people remain calm and informed during a difficult time.
“It really was do your best, and when you lay your head on the pillow, know that you hopefully made a little bit of a difference, and then get up the next day and do it all again,” Paprocki says.
