Purpose
One lesson learned from events since 2001, especially Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is that traditional methods of communicating health and emergency information often fall short of the goal of reaching everyone in a community. Although a great deal of work has been done, public engagement for emergency response planning remains low. Other reports and legislation have also acknowledged this challenge as indicated below.
In December 2008, the Trust for America’s Health released its sixth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report.1 This report recommends that “risk communication and emergency planning activities need to include all segments of the population to ensure their voices are heard and incorporated.” The 2008 report further recommends that “federal, state, and local officials must design culturally competent risk communication campaigns that use respected, trusted, and culturally competent messengers.”
When enacted in December 2006, the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act required the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “to integrate the needs of at-risk individuals on all levels of emergency planning, ensuring the effective incorporation of at-risk populations into existing and future policy, planning, and programmatic documents.”2 PAHPA singled out risk communication and public preparedness as essential public health security capabilities, and it made state and local preparedness awards contingent upon an explicit mechanism, such as an advisory committee to obtain public comment and input on emergency plans and their implementation.
Furthermore, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 (HSPD-21), signed in October 2007, established the National Strategy for Public Health and Medical Preparedness, which includes community resilience as a critical component along with bio-surveillance, countermeasure distribution, and mass casualty care.3 Community resilience is how community and personal characteristics facilitate the ability to “bounce back" from adversity. This resource assists the inclusion of at-risk populations communication needs to promote their resiliency.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the assistance of many state and local government and non-governmental agencies, has responded by compiling and disseminating information and materials for public health and emergency preparedness planners to better communicate health and emergency information to at-risk populations for all-hazard events. The process outlined in this eTool and the additional templates and materials included in the eToolbox are some results of this effort.
1 Trust for America’s Health. Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, Bioterrorism. December 2008.
http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/3613.1208.readyornot.tfahrpt.pdf
2 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act Progress Report. Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2008.
http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/legal/pahpa/Documents/pahpa-at-risk-report0901.pdf
3 Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21. October 18, 2007.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/nstc/biosecurity
