Understanding Emergency Public Health Risk Communication Resources & Relationships Within The Public Health System

Transcription

1 Course One Understanding Emergency Public Health Risk Communication Resources & Relationships Within The Public Health System 1

2 Introduction South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness will develop three webbased courses to help prepare public health practitioners in the four-state partnership to understand and use risk communication principles and methods within (Course One) and beyond (Course Two) the public health system and to reach consumers through the mass media (Course Three). Welcome to Course One, Resources & Relationships Within the Public Health System. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to explain public health risk communication principles; discover resources for developing and using a health risk communication plan; identify risk communication stakeholders and their functional roles of responsibility within the public health organization; and discover or write an interim risk communication plan. At various points in the lecture, the narrator will prompt you as to where to consult this handbook for questions, reference points and places for comments. Modules and Learning objectives Module 1: Define risk communication as applicable to public health. Learners will be able to list resources fundamental to understanding health risk communication. These resources must include both Internet sites and traditional printed and videotaped materials Learners will be able to define health risk communication. Learners will be able to describe the public health role in the emergency response and the need and process for applying health risk communication strategies to understand and solve the public health problem. 2

3 Module 2: Recognize and describe health risk communication stakeholders and detail strategies for preparedness Learners will be able to identify roles and responsibilities within the public health organization and the contributions individuals/functional positions would offer toward developing a risk communication plan. Learners will be able to describe their personal role and responsibilities in responding to the public health emergency. Learners will be able to recognize emergency preparedness core competencies for all public health workers and explain the communication role(s) in emergency response. Learners will be able to describe the psychology of crisis and emergency health risk communication. Learners will determine the audience and the messages for the organization s health risk communication effort; each learner will describe his/her contribution to this portion of the plan s development. Learners will be able to explain risk communication preparedness and planning, response, and recovery. Module 3: Discover or write an interim risk communication plan. Learners will review latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the written risk communication plan. Learners will review the CDC publication Crisis + Emergency Risk Communication with particular emphasis on Module 4, Crisis Communication Plan, to list crisis communication phases. Each learner will discover and submit or write his/her organization s protocol for risk communication and health information dissemination. The plan must include, but not be limited to, the goal statement, a description of the chain of command, identification of staff assignments for message development and release of information to specific audiences, description of the communication channels to be used, description of the monitoring plan, and assessment of the perceived capacity to achieve the goal. 3

4 Module One Exercise Exploring Resources Scan some of these Internet sites; then answer the two questions below: How can you use this information to fulfill your role in the public health system? 4

5 2. List two sites you think will be the best resources for you and briefly explain why. STOP HERE and RETURN TO LECTURE 5

6 Module One Exercise Crisis & Emergency Health Risk Communication Please complete all the exercises in this section before returning to the lecture. 1. Review this CDC site, which provides information on the West Nile Virus. Then write a brief paragraph or some bullet points to tell whether and how West Nile Virus relates to crisis communication. 6

7 2. Now look at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals West Nile Virus website and the Mississippi State Department of Health website. Note evidence that involves emergency and crisis health risk communication. Compare these two sites. List at least four communication strategies CDC, Louisiana, and Mississippi have employed in relation to West Nile Virus. STOP HERE and RETURN TO LECTURE 7

8 Module Two Exercise Core Competencies Using the Core Competencies document found at this website: or under the Course Documents section of this course, please complete the following exercises. 1. List the categories of staff for whom competencies are indicated. 2. List the three stages for the functional areas of responsibility. 8

9 3. List your public health system s chain of command. (Note: You may refer to your state website for this exercise.) STOP HERE and RETURN TO LECTURE 9

10 Module Two Exercise Public Health & Emergency Risk Communication Using the CDC site and your own workplace Web site, please answer these questions: 1. Identify the individuals and/or their job titles who have been directly involved in health risk communication preparedness and planning for response to a smallpox event and recovery. 2. Write a brief description of each person s assignment and contributions. 10

11 3. Summarize how the smallpox preparations and work within your organization relate to and better equip the team to conduct routine public health work. 4. Describe your personal role and responsibilities in responding to the public health event. STOP HERE and RETURN TO LECTURE 11

12 Module Three Exercise Recognizing The Essentials Reviewing the slides covered thus far in this module, please complete the following exercises. 1. List the 12 elements the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider to be essential for a complete crisis communications plan. 12

13 2. List the four factors that any designated, authorized spokesperson should bring to the table. STOP HERE and RETURN TO LECTURE 13

14 COURSE DESIGNER: NancyKay Sullivan Wessman, MPH, Owner 3726 Crane Boulevard Jackson, Mississippi WessComm, LLC, provides communications, public relations, and social marketing consultation and services. Clients include Mississippi Nurses Association, AAA Ambulance Service and Southeast Mississippi Air Ambulance District, Shannon Law Firm, Key3Media/Harvard Medical International (as an invited speaker at BioSecurity 2002), and South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness. Wessman was one of 150 experts nationwide invited to A Summit on Leadership During Bioterrorism: The Public As An Asset, Not A Problem, convened by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies (February 2003). Director of Communications and Public Relations, Mississippi State Department of Health, until her retirement January 31, 2003, from state government, Wessman worked as deputy to the State Health Officer for policy development, management, and implementation of Departmental communications, including mass media relations, employee communications, marketing, health communication, and social marketing efforts, graphic arts production, Public Records Act administration, and constituency/partnership building. Wessman established and maintained high visibility and credibility as a news source for two decades with vast experience in emergency response communications related to infectious disease outbreaks, hurricanes and other natural disasters, the nation s largest pesticide (methyl parathion) contamination cleanup, anthrax 2001, and the 2002 West Nile virus epidemic. She is creator of the Departmental faces of Mississippi logo, brand identity program, and graphic standards policy; provided national leadership in workforce development, particularly related to distance learning and work with the Public Health Training Network; and stimulated a Department-wide strategic planning process in the early 1990's that helped position the Mississippi State Department of Health to focus resources on assessment, policy development, and assurance of access rather than provision of primary care. Finally, she worked with multi-disciplinary teams to achieve Mississippi s Smallpox Preparedness Plan and develop use of Supplemental Funds for Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterrorism. Wessman earned the M.P.H. degree at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine as a health communications/education major and health systems management minor. She also holds a B.S. degree with double majors in communications and English and minors in public relations and secondary education from University of Southern Mississippi. She is a founding member, former president, and continuing active leader of the National Public Health Information Coalition and was selected in 2000 as one of Mississippi s 50 Outstanding Business Women. nksw: