Capability Cliff Notes Series

PHEP Capability 4—Emergency Public Information and Warning

What Is It And How Will We Measure It?

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Learning Objectives

• Become familiar with Capability Functions• Become familiar with Tasks that complete the

Functions• Understand how these Functions and Tasks

are measured or may be measured in the future (Performance Measures)

Emergency Public Information and Warning

• Emergency public information and warning is the ability to develop, coordinate, and disseminate information, alerts, warnings, and notifications to the public and incident responders.

• How can health departments efficiently disseminate critical information to the people who need it?

Emergency Public Information and Warning Functions

What Can Health Departments Do to Share Important Information With People?

1. Activate the emergency public information system

2. Determine the need for a joint public information system

3. Establish and participate in information system operations

4. Establish avenues for public interaction and information exchange

5. Issue public information, alerts, warnings, and notifications

Capabilities and Measures ResourcesThe presentation will be an overview of what the functions and tasks mean, linked to

the performance measures.

Please note that since the capabilities PDF document has come out, more performance measures have been developed. If performance measures have come out since the creation of the capabilities document below, they have been included in these tutorials following their function slide, even if the PDF lists that there are no measures for that function. For functions that still have no measures, questions for health departments to begin thinking about measures have been included instead.

For exact lists of the capabilities and performance measures, and data collected for the measures, documents can be found at these links:

For Capabilities, Functions, and Tasks:• http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/capabilities/DSLR_capabilities_July.pdf

For Performance Measures:• http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDPHE-EPR/CBON/1251643573938

Function 1: Activate the emergency public information system

How can health departments prepare public information?

1. Before an incident, identify Public Information Officer, support staff, and spokespeople to convey information to the public.

2. Before an incident, identify a primary and alternate physical and/or virtual structure to support public information operations.

3. Before the incident, ensure identified personnel are trained in the functions they may be asked to fulfill.

4. At the time of an incident, notify public information staff of the need to either be on-call or to report for duty when requested.

5. At the time of an incident, assemble public information staff at the physical or virtual location, debrief on the incident, and assign duties.

6. Assist local public health systems in sharing critical information with the people who need it (public, emergency managers, etc).

Function 1 MeasurementHow does the CDC measure if health departments’

public information systems are prepared?There are no performance measures for this task. However to measure

public health information preparedness, consider the following questions:

• Is the health department’s public information system operational?• How many organizations or community sectors can be reached by the

system or network?• What languages are needed in the community and who do the

departments have that can communicate messages in the languages needed?

• Who can access this information with the public information system?• What education or training do the staff have?• How soon can messages be disseminated?

Function 2: Determine the need for a joint public information system

Tasks: How do health departments decide the need for a joint center for information? If so, what are the steps for setting one up?

1. Set up a Joint Information Center (JIC), if needed. If a physical location is not possible for a JIC, set up a virtual JIC.

2. Identify a health department representative cover public information tasks at the emergency operations center, if a JIC is not needed or possible.

3. Assign tasks to staff to coordinate messages and information for at least these three areas: Research, Media Operations, and Administration, if needed.

Function 2 MeasurementHow does the CDC measure if health

departments have accurately identified whether they need a JIC?

There are no performance measures for this task, however think about the following questions:

• How many agencies are involved?• What kind of information needs to be given?• What steps should be taken to provide public

information to people who need it, about research, media operations, and administration?

Function 3: Establish and participate in information system operations

Tasks: How should health departments plan to disseminate public information?

1. Develop, recommend, and execute approved public information plans and strategies on behalf of the Incident Command or Unified Command structure.

2. If there is a JIC, provide a single release point of information for health and healthcare issues through a pre-identified spokesperson.

3. Maintain rumor control for media outlets, such as television, internet, radio, and newspapers.

Function 3 MeasurementHow does the CDC measure if health departments

have set up an efficient public information plan?There are no performance measures for this task. However, to

measure efficient public information coordination, consider the following questions:

• Are public information strategies part of the plans in Incident Command?

• How many different spokespeople are providing messages for the public health agency?

• Do those messages contain information that is aligned with the JIC, or is there conflicting information?

• How many instances of misinformation has the public health department seen or heard of from the media, or the public?

Function 4: Establish avenues for public interaction and information exchange

Tasks: How can health departments get public information out to the people who need it?

1. Establish mechanisms (e.g., call center, poison control center, and non-emergency line such as 211 or 311) for public and media inquiries to get critical information.

2. If health department websites exist, post incident-related information on health department website as a means of informing and connecting with the public.

3. Use social media (e.g., Twitter and Facebook) when and if possible for public health messaging.

Function 4 MeasurementHow does the CDC measure if health departments have set up

useful avenues of communication?

There is no performance measure associated with this function, but to determine the effectiveness of the information exchange with the people who need it, consider the following questions:

• What is the call volume concerning the incident?

• How many hits have the incident-related web pages gotten?

• How many comments were there on the social media sites?

• What were the nature of the comments?

Function 5: Issue public information, alerts, warnings, and notifications

Tasks: How and to whom should health departments provide public information? What should the messages say? How quickly can they share this information?

1. Before the incident, follow legal guidelines to avoid communication of information that is protected, and that may infringe on individual and entity rights.

2. Share information with the public using pre-created message maps in languages and formats that will reach the groups in all demographics, including at-risk populations, economic disadvantages, limited language proficiency, and cultural or geographical isolation.

Function 5 MeasurementHow does the CDC measure if health departments have communicated public

information in a timely way?

There is no performance measure associated with this function, but to determine the effectiveness of the information exchange with the people who need it, consider the following questions:

• How long did it take to send messages out to the public, between the time information was needed or requested, and the time it was posted or aired?

• How well was the information received, if there was a response?

• Was the information given in an understandable way for the audience?

• Was any information given out that should not have been?

• Was the information given in enough detail?

Questions?

Please contact:Rachel ColesProgram Evaluator--CDPHE303-692-2764rachel.coles@state.co.us