Building Health Communication Capacity in Preparedness and Safety Messaging for Hurricanes, Flooding, and Similar Disasters through Virtual Training

Background:

Hurricanes, floods, and similar disasters can have long-lasting effects. After the storm, affected communities may deal with challenging physical, mental, emotional, and environmental consequences. In response to three major hurricanes in the United States and its territories in late summer 2017, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) subject matter experts (SMEs) and health communicators developed a communications document that included public health and safety key messages for all phases of a hurricane. The resource ensured that all of CDC’s messages were consistent and allowed for rapid messaging on a variety of ongoing and dangerous hazards during the prolonged response. The key messages document was used extensively by CDC and was distributed to health departments and partners in the affected jurisdictions.

Program background:

The success of this document in strengthening CDC’s capacity to promptly communicate health messages led to the development of an expanded national preparedness document, “Preparedness and Safety Messaging for Hurricanes, Flooding, and Similar Disasters.” The resource includes messages on various topics including food safety, carbon monoxide poisoning, waterborne diseases, and mold. Available on CDC’s website in English and Spanish, this resource can help local responders quickly create and adapt health communication products for communities affected by hurricanes or extreme flooding. To bring further awareness of the document’s robust capabilities, CDC developed a virtual training workshop on how to use the new resource to promptly identify and develop effective and relevant key communication messages during an emergency. Through a series of instructor-led workshops, CDC communication experts provided public information officers and other communication professionals from around the country guidance on how to use the key messages resource during preparedness, response, and recovery activities associated with hurricanes and extreme flooding.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

Using Zoom technology, CDC experts engaged participants in a series of group and individual exercises to allow participants to practice using the preparedness resource to develop effective preparedness and response messages, including tweets and text message alerts. Forty-six health communication professionals representing 26 states and the District of Columbia were trained to identify key messages by topic within the new CDC key message resource and tailor key messages from the resource for use within different types of media. From June 2018 to January 2019, the resource was downloaded 2,969 times from the CDC website.

Conclusions:

N/A

Implications for research and/or practice:

The workshop can help participants improve their ability to quickly develop health communication products for diverse audiences and disseminate them before, during, and after a hurricane, flood, or similar disaster. The hands-on trainings provided participants the opportunity to become familiar with using the resource, practice identifying information on different topics, and developing messaging for various communication channels. Public health and emergency management partners can add this resource to strengthen their communication plans that address hazards expected from extreme weather involving strong wind and high water.