CERC: Pandemic Influenza Overview & Objectives
Overview
Preparing for and responding to a pandemic, especially a severe pandemic, will challenge response officials and the public in all communities. We can expect the following:
- Susceptibility to the pandemic influenza virus will be universal.
- Of those who become ill with influenza, 50% will seek outpatient medical care.
- The number of hospitalizations and deaths will depend on the virulence of the pandemic virus, with severe pandemic influenza causing nearly 2 million deaths in the United States.
- In an affected community, a pandemic outbreak will last about 6 to 8 weeks.
- Multiple waves (periods during which community outbreaks occur across the country) of illness could occur with each wave lasting 2-3 months.
- The need for fast, accurate, and credible information to be vast.
Communicating to concerned members of the community will be a paramount responsibility and the right message delivered at the right time by the right person could save lives. The HHS/CDC CERC: Pandemic Influenza course will give leaders and communication professionals the best approaches and tools to exercise quality communication before, during, and after a pandemic.
Objectives
Participants should expect to gain the following understandings:
Overall
- The psychology of a severe pandemic and what kinds of messages the public will need from their public health professionals.
- Why stigmatization occurs and how officials can respond and discourage it.
- The importance of strengthening community hardiness and personal resilience to provide the optimum opportunity for recovery from the crisis.
- How to incorporate loss, grief and mourning rituals in communication to the community while respecting cultural differences.
- Distinguish which populations will be unable to receive general public health emergency messages related to pandemic influenza through mass communication channels during the initial phase of a public health emergency.
- Recognize the National Incident Management System and the intricacies of the Joint Information Center
- How information technology and the new media influence communication decisions and pandemic preparedness.
What are Different Objectives?
- Appraise the range of challenges presented by a severe influenza pandemic and the communication steps that could be taken.
- Formulate communication priorities based on a full exploration of the context of a severe influenza pandemic.
- Recognize communication themes required to fulfill severe influenza pandemic response goals of fewer disease cases, spread over a longer timeframe with fewer deaths.
Hardiness and Personal Resilience Objectives
- Recognize the positive role of community hardiness and personal resilience.
- Compare and contrast expected community outcomes based on hardiness or lack of hardiness.
- Predict the community's level of hardiness now and identify ways to build, restore, and strengthen hardiness before and during a severe influenza pandemic through communication activities.
- Acknowledge the role of leaders in building community hardiness before and during a pandemic.
Stigmatization Objectives
- Define stigmatization
- Recall the four discernible characteristics of stigmatization.
- Evaluate how stigmatization may occur in the community.
- Formulate ways for communication professionals to counter stigmatization
Reaching Special Populations Objectives
- Employ consistent concepts regarding special populations to ensure that appropriate assessments are conducted, planning done, and resources appropriately allocated.
- Distinguish which populations will be unable to receive general public health emergency messages related to pandemic influenza through mass communication channels during the initial phase of a public health emergency.
- Recognize that communication alone may not remove all barriers to preventing illness, injury, or death among population groups.
Grief, Loss and Bereavement Objectives
- Describe types of loss, grief, and bereavement concerns for individuals and communities during a severe influenza pandemic.
- Recognize the cultural differences in bereavement rituals.
- Select ways to communicate to individuals and communities empathetically about their loss.
Information Technology and New Media Objectives
- Recognize the multitudes of [traditional and] non-traditional ways the public can and will access information, and the speed with which electronic communications will reach innumerable channels.
- Construct a plan to reach out to non-traditional communication channels to help disseminate accurate, consistent, timely information to large numbers of people.
- Evaluate message and rumor monitoring methods to include new technologies and the ability to counteract any false information that may become widespread.
- Page last updated January 23, 2012
- Content source: Office of Enterprise Communication (OEC)
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