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Closing ThoughtsAs we close the HHS Pandemic Flu blog, I want thank all of you for participating. The passion of respondents was a happy surprise to me. I have come to understand there is an army of well trained and motivated people who understand this issue and the need for a sustained concentrated effort. This is the first time I have participated in a blog like this one. It has created an appetite for more. Citizens want to hear from their government leaders and there is value in government leaders hearing from citizens. Educating Americans about the need for individual and family pandemic preparedness is a major part of our mission at HHS. We wanted to bring leaders from health care, business/labor, community and faith-based organizations together but knew a one day meeting wouldn’t be enough so we created a blog to extend the conversation and engage more voices. Every one of us has a role to play—educating others, thinking about those with fewer resources...
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The Secretary and the End of the BlogToday is June 27, the final day of the Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog. As of 6:00 pm EST, comments will be turned off and the contributing bloggers who have graciously given their time to this effort will no longer be able to post. The site will be archived but will continue to remain accessible. The search function will continue to work, as will the social media tools (del.icio.us and Technorati) and all links within the site. Secretary Michael O. Leavitt intended to post today to leave you with his perspective on the past five weeks of the blog, but unanticipated changes to his schedule did not permit him to do so. Therefore, Secretary Leavitt will post his final comments before the close of the week. We hope you will come back to read these concluding remarks.
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Thank you for the conversationI want to thank the Secretary, the Department and staff for taking the initiative to reach out to the public in this way. Blogs have a tendency to encourage informal two-way conversations, which can sometimes pose a challenge to those used to polished, one-way institutional communication. And this is a good thing! Ultimately people want to feel that they are being treated like real human beings, not just faceless citizens to whom government messages can be broadcast. We want to feel like we know our leaders, that they know us, and we want to be treated with respect. We want to be trusted with truthful information so that we can make the best decisions for ourselves, our families, and our communities. I hope the Department looks at this experiment not only as a new way to communicate with the public, but also as a way to enable real conversations with real people. The threat we face from pandemic flu is real, and I believe the best preparedness will come out of...
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Making it happen for all AmericansI’d like to refer back to HHS’s stated goal on pandemic preparedness: “to help as many Americans as possible to understand that the threat of a pandemic influenza is real and to actively engage in personal preparedness.” That’s an appropriate goal and this blog and the summit have been an innovative approach. My sincere thanks to Secretary Leavitt, Admiral Agwunobi and their team at HHS for organizing this effort, and for the many partners who have contributed posts and comments. We’ve covered a lot of ground. But before this summit concludes, I want to underscore the importance of making sure we include all Americans in our planning and outreach in order to “help as many Americans as possible.” We may be too quick to dismiss the most vulnerable among us: “They’re unreachable, or they’re too difficult to identify, engage or motivate. They don’t have the resources.” This...
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Where Do We Go From Here?As the HHS blog winds down, I will use my last entry here to lay out some ideas for what a comprehensive pandemic flu communications campaign might look like. The plan must address the various layers of interaction: HHS to individuals, HHS to intermediaries who then reach their constituents, and individuals to individuals. The first — and most obvious — piece that needs to be put in place is a media campaign. The message should probably be an “official” announcement from the CDC or the Surgeon General that makes it clear that pandemic flu is something to worry about, with clear steps that individuals can take to be prepared. This official imprimature needs to be done using a serious tone, combining facts while tapping into the deep-seated values that will get people to take action. The campaign should be customized for various ethnic and language-based groups to ensure that the message is understood by all. In addition to television, radio and...
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